Back of the Bar
by tikitikirevenge
Summary: TP. Concerning four characters who weren't as well explored as they deserved to be. Ashei, Auru, Rusl and Shad played as much of a part as any in this chapter of Hyrule's history. Eventual spoilers, obviously.
1. A night spent rejoicing and running

Chapter One  
A night spent rejoicing and running

* * *

Making pains not to step on the barkeeper Telma's cat as it darted out through the closing door, Shad trod unsteadily around the dimly lit bar. He weaved through the bar's noisy patrons, narrowly avoided a bulky Goron perched precariously on a barstool, and finally stumbled his way back to the table at the very back of the bar. Having made it, he carefully lowered the tray he carried onto the table, taking care not to spill the drinks balanced upon it, and slumped onto his seat.

"One glass brandy," he pronounced, sounding very satisfied with himself, "two beers, and one mug warm milk."

"You're sure you don't want anything stronger?" said Ashei, showing vague concern as she reached along the table for her drink.

"Quite sure," said Shad.

"Seriously… I'll swap if you want." Her tone of voice made the gesture sound like a bloody sacrifice.

Shad shook his head. "I'll pass." With what he considered an air of finality, he raised his glass and took a deep sip from it, glancing around the table.

There were three sitting at the table: Auru, a weathered, white-haired man in his seventies, perpetually awake yet always looking tired. To his right sat Ashei, a young woman from the mountains, dressed in chain mail armour with its share of bloodstains but not a scratch to show for them. And to her right, Shad, a young man also in his early twenties, whose concern for his appearance went no further than bathing every couple of days, his clothes cheap and indistinguishable from anything else being worn in the bar.

Telma's Bar was located just off the southern thoroughfare of Hyrule Castle Town. The proprietor Telma's sense of humour, taste in décor, and almost-reasonable prices made the bar a popular haunt for all sorts, from off-duty soldiers who blamed their superiors for every wrong in the world, to youngsters celebrating their legal transition to adulthood in the only way they knew how, to Gorons being both amused by and approving of the sight of a human barkeeper offering rocks as part of her evening menu. Tonight the bar's patronage numbered around fifteen, which was excellent for the small group sitting at the back of the bar; quiet enough to hear themselves speak, but loud enough not to be overheard easily.

"Well," said Auru, glancing at his pocket-watch, "it is about eight o'clock now."

"Yes, quite true," said Shad. "I don't suppose you think that Rusl has… run into trouble or some such?" (Rusl was the fourth member of the group, a man in his forty-first year from the Ordon province, technically so far south that it wasn't part of Hyrule.)

"Hope not," shrugged Ashei, swirling her glass around. "But it's not a good time to be wandering around at night. I mean, there were dark monsters roaming around these streets just a week ago… and Hyrule Field is more dangerous than ever, yeah?"

"Yes," said Auru. "I was planning on going to Lake Hylia myself… I wanted to see if the rumours about the water flow were true, and perhaps set my sights east… but I've decided to postpone that until I hear the fields are safer again. Although…" He looked slightly guilty – an expression the other two had never seen him wear before.

"Yes?" said Ashei.

"I got here before you, and was speaking with Telma – she's just gotten back from Kakariko, of course – and she had some… encouraging… news about Hyrule Field." He raised his brandy glass and took a long sip from it.

"Oh, yes?" said Shad. "Do tell, do tell; we could all use some good news."

Auru swallowed loudly. "So, I heard that an acquaintance of Telma's defeated the beast that had been attacking tourists on the bridge."

"Oh, yes?" said Ashei.

Auru nodded. "Yes, you remember that young man who came by here the other day? His name was Link…"

Ashei's eyebrows elevated. "You don't mean… the hero-type?" One or two days ago, a young man who looked almost her age had waltzed in, dressed up as the legendary hero. "Unbelievable… so that getup wasn't just a costume…" She took another gulp.

"Well now, if that isn't a bit of a shock!" said Shad. "I was rather snotty to him, if I recall…" He looked anxious now, and he gripped his mug handle tightly. "I suppose I should apologise to him when I see him next… I'd hate for him to resort to fisticuffs or some such!"

"I'd love to see him try," said Ashei. "A bit of proper horseback training and I could have taken on that beast, no problem. He won't be picking any fights while _I'm_ here, yeah?"

Evidently this was supposed to have cheered Shad up, but he still looked quite worried. "How was I supposed to know?" he muttered to himself. "_He_ had to dress up like that… I mean, all the other swordsmen around here look the part… he has to understand… oh dear… I hope he doesn't challenge me to a duel or…"

His morbid train of thought was interrupted by a large clay pot tumbling down from a shelf behind Auru. It shattered as it hit the grounds, sending its contents flying everywhere (only grapes, thankfully), and causing heads to turn from all sides of the bar.

"What was that noise?" someone said loudly.

Like a pained spirit, Telma materialised upon the scene, kneeling down and sweeping all the badly bruised fruits into a pan. "Not a problem," she was saying, "shelf's been on a slant for years… meant to get it repaired…" Auru, Ashei and a nearby Goron joined her on the floor, while Shad sat and watched, dazed, but glad of the distraction.

* * *

Five minutes later, after there was nothing to show for the accident but a few pieces of clay lying about, Rusl finally arrived, soaking wet but struggling to contain the huge grin on his face.

"You look happy," Telma began, as Rusl threw himself around her.

"Colin's alive!" he proclaimed ecstatically, releasing her and then turning and hugging Shad tightly.

"Your… son?" Shad was clearly struggling to breathe; Rusl was much stronger than he ever intended to be.

"Yes, it's just wonderful!" Rusl circled the table and did the same to Ashei, who returned the hug somewhat unenthusiastically, and Auru, who smilled and pat him on the back reassuringly. Seemingly exhausted from this display of joy, Rusl fell into his own seat, and grabbed the glass of beer Shad had left out for him, draining it in seconds.

"Excellent news, honey," said Telma warmly. "You need anything else?"

"No, I'll be fine, shouldn't overdo it… almost never drank at home," said Rusl leaning back and stretching his arms.

"Well," said Auru encouragingly, "do tell, then."

"Well," said Rusl, looking around the table, "I got a letter from my wife yesterday morning. She said the children had been found in Kakariko Village, so of course I had to go there straight away. I followed a group of travelling salesmen to the village, safety in numbers and all… anyway, Colin's fine. He has his fair share of bruises, but he's alive and running about and that's all that matters… almost got carried off by those boar riders the day before Eldin Bridge vanished… but he didn't, that's the point, I'll have to thank Link if I see him again, oh… Colin, he looks _older_, as if he just grew up while I wasn't looking… of course, I'm being ridiculous, it's just my imagination; he's still a kid… actually, Telma, maybe I'll take you up on that offer. You have anything warm?"

Telma nodded. "Yes… Rusl, dear, I'm so happy for you, naturally. Do have a good evening." She swooped off, heading for the bar counter.

"Oh, I hope you didn't miss me yesterday evening," Rusl said.

"Not at all; we got your note," said Auru.

"Oh, good," said Rusl. "Sorry for being late, I meant to get here a bit earlier," he added, "but it was raining and I didn't want to run. Plus, there were more people out tonight than usual… and then somebody saw a stray dog and panicked, called it a wolf… chaos as per usual…"

"Well, it's hardly surprising, is it?" said Shad, looking slightly sour – his milk was cooling. "Everything that's happened in the last few months is quite extraordinary, to say the least. People have good reason to be on edge."

Ashei asked, "Rusl, did you mention somebody called Link?"

Rusl nodded. "Yes, he was the oldest boy to disappear from my village."

"Is he…" Ashei paused, trying to remember, "about Shad's height, about Shad's weight… age… brownish hair… does he look a bit like Shad?"

Shad appeared vaguely uncomfortable at the comparison.

"Yes," said Rusl, "that would be right. You mean to say you've met him?"

"Yes, just yesterday… I _knew_ he had a strange accent," Ashei said. "Should have recognised it."

"We had a minor misunderstanding," added Auru. "Ah, if only you had been there."

"What an unfortunate coincidence," said Rusl, "I do hope he comes back; I _must_ thank him for saving my son."

Nobody spoke for a few seconds. To interrupt the silence, Telma returned with another glass of beer and grabbed the empty one. She clapped Rusl on the back, and then was off again.

"My, my…" Rusl said, looking at his glass, "I do hope I don't return to my wife an alcoholic…"

"I'll keep you in check," promised Auru with vigour.

"Well, then," said Rusl, "I can see that you all have half-empty glasses now, but still, I would like to propose a toast."

"To your son?" guessed Shad, his glass raised.

"To Colin," affirmed Rusl, and they drank to that.

"This should be a happy evening for us all," said Auru. "Yet, to be the bearer of bad news… I have a feeling of ill omen." With the wisdom of his years and his experience with magic, Auru's hunches tended to be right more often than not.

"Well," said Shad, "why don't we forget that for tonight, and worry about it whenever it comes?"

A murmur of unanimous assent issued from the others.

"Yes, Shad," said Ashei, raising her glass again, "you're right as always…" She faltered, and slowly lowered her glass to the table. "That's odd. I could have sworn that I just heard…"

"…screaming?" said Rusl.

"Screaming," said Ashei.

The four of them glanced across the bar. A few people were staring at the door as if they, too, had heard something.

"At the risk of getting wet," said Auru, "I suggest we have a look."

* * *

Along with two or three other people from the bar, the four of them made their way through the courtyard immediately outside, up the staircase onto the southern thoroughfare, and stopped, looking around wildly. Along the street, heads poked out from windows and doors.

"Well, _something_ is going on," said Ashei, as if that weren't already obvious enough.

A moment later, a man in a travelling cloak came running down from the central plaza, clearly panicked. "Monsters!" he yelled as he ran. "Monsters! Dozens of them! Save yourselves!"

Just as suddenly as they had appeared, people's heads vanished from windows along the street. Doors could be heard slamming and locking with more speed than one would believe humanly possible.

Then they appeared from the shadow: large, green lizard-like creatures, slightly taller than the average Hylian, wielding crude-looking swords and shields. There were four of them coming down the street, and from distant screams it could be inferred that they weren't just here.

"Aha, Lizalfos," said Auru quietly. "Very unpleasant creatures."

"Are they any good with their weapons?" said Rusl, not taking his eyes off the creatures slowly advancing.

"From my last encounter with them, years ago," said Auru, "yes, they are fairly experienced fighters."

Along the road, a couple dozen people who had been walking along the streets or who had left their restaurants out of curiosity were starting to panic, faced with menacing beasts and locked doors. Screams were becoming loud and pained now; someone was sure to have been hurt by now.

"I'm just going to… head back inside," said Shad nervously. He backed down the steps and darted into the bar.

"Hey! OVER HERE!" yelled Ashei, hands cupped. "Safe haven! Hurry!" Then, more quietly, "Where the hell are the town guard when you need them?"

"I wish I knew," said Rusl, his hand reaching behind his back and fingering the hilt of his sword.

The crowd shifted and people started pushing past each other in a mad rush to the steps, bounding down them as if, or rather because, it was life or death. Auru, Ashei and Rusl stepped out of the way, ushering them in.

"I'm afraid I am far too old to be of any assistance," said Auru sadly. "Thirty years ago, perhaps… but not now." He winced as an elderly man stumbled and was struck from behind by one of the lizalfos.

As Auru turned back inside, Ashei shrugged. "I hope for your sake you're good with a sword, Rusl," she said, looking at the foul creatures toppling over stalls and stamping on fallen bodies.

Rusl didn't respond, instead carefully pulling his sword from its sheath.

"Oh, Goddesses… someone, please help me…"

They both glanced around and located the source of the voice – the man in the travelling cloak who had come running down the street, shouting his warning. He was sprawled on the ground just across the road from them, his leg bent at an impossible angle. All four of the Lizalfos also seemed to notice the noise. The closest one shouted triumphantly, raised its sword, and ran full pelt for the fallen stranger.

Rusl was the first to react. He dashed across the road, reaching the other man as the Lizalfos did. The creature shrieked and raised its sword, preparing to plunge. The monster was so intent on its prey it completely failed to notice Rusl's sword moving into its throat with all his momentum behind it until it was far too late. Blood sprayed everywhere, and its eyes locked momentarily with Rusl's before glazing over. It collapsed onto the other man's body, sword still clutched tightly in hand.

"Can he be saved?" said Ashei, catching up half a second later.

"You've got a broken leg," said Rusl, addressing the man, "but you're not bleeding. You understand?"

"Yes," the man gasped weakly, and then his grasping arm fell to the ground. Ashei glanced at his face; he looked to be in his thirties or forties.

"Right," Ashei said, looking up again. The three remaining Lizalfos remained a comfortable distance away, but they looked ready to charge at the slightest sign of movement. "I think he's unconscious. We're going to have to carry him in afterwards. Rusl, you cover the left half of the street, I'll go on the right…"

"…and the other lizard slips between us and finishes this poor man off?" interrupted Rusl. "Look, I'll carry him down the stairs. It might wreak havoc on his leg, but better than dying. The stairs are narrow; you hold them off until the soldiers get here."

"With all respect, the selfish pricks aren't coming, and I'm not going to hold off three of them for more than half a minute," said Ashei, who had always held the military in contempt.

"Are we going to save this man or not?" The Lizalfols were now slowly walking towards them, their guards raised.

"Fine," said Ashei. "But he'd better really appreciate this…"

They both dropped their swords with a clatter. Ashei lifted the Lizalfols corpse, and Rusl dragged the other man out by the shoulders. As soon as he was clear, Ashei dropped the body, grabbed her sword again, and brought it up just in time to meet seven feet of psychotic lizard. The impact sent her staggering back a few steps, but when the Lizalfols made a vertical swipe, she was ready, parrying and then jabbing deep into its chest. The lizard cried angrily at her and then crumpled.

"Telma! Open up!" shouted Rusl, nearing the door. The trip down the stairs hadn't been kind to the unconscious man's leg, but Rusl's conscience was easy, given the alternative.

If Ashei had had more time, she would have tried to unfasten the shield from the dead Lizalfols. As it was, the other two were had just reached the staircase.

"Hey! Over here, you ugly worms!" she shouted. One of them turned around at the noise, barring her path; the other paid it no head and started walking down the staircase, where Rusl was still dragging the man into the bar.

Ashei locked eyes with the closer Lizalfos and approached it, sword raised, showing every intention of swiping for its neck. At the last minute, she rolled under its counterattack, bringing her sword through its left leg. The Lizalfos screamed and, unable to balance on its other foot, crashed face-first into the pavement, where it lay still.

"One got away!" she shouted, dashing down a few steps and then leaping down onto the stone pavement.

Rusl turned and slammed the door shut, just in time for the last Lizalfols to smash into it side-on. Unfazed, it turned around to face Ashei, snarling. They circled each other, slowly closing the gap until they were barely an arms-length away and she could feel the stench of its warm breath upon her face.

She swung first; it easily blocked the strike with its shield and swiped at her with its sword. Ashei's right arm twisted at an awkward angle to parry the strike, while she held her left arm out to keep her balance.

"Die… pig…" the Lizalfos hissed.

"You speak Hylian?" Ashei blurted, her sword dropping by a fraction.

Sword-first, the lizard dived into her with its full weight. The impact sent her flying back into a hard wall. She felt a sharp pain in her back, and stars clouded her vision for a couple of seconds. She blinked hard and opened her eyes to see the Lizalfos standing right in front of her. There wasn't enough room to sidestep out of the way.

"Yes… your killing is mine," the creature enunciated with relish. Sure that the fight was over, it raised its sword above its shoulder, grinning menacingly.

In a burst of adrenaline, Ashei made one last double-handed swing at the creature. It worked – the Lizalfos' raised arm had left it vulnerable on its right side, and her sword hit its neck with enough force to decapitate it, spraying her head to toe with warm blood.

Astonished and weakened by the strength of her swing, Ashei stood rooted to the spot, watching numbly as the Lizalfos' headless body overbalanced and fell away from her. She stood there for another twenty seconds, before snapping out of her trance, dropping her sword, and stumbling back to the door.

The door swung open, and Shad's head stuck out. "Ashei? Are you there – Goddesses, all that blood! I-" Looking faintly sick, he retreated back inside.

Ashei followed him in, and sank to the floor, exhausted.

Almost everyone in the bar had was a safe distance from the doorway. Auru and Rusl were leaning over the body of the man they had gone out of their way to rescue.

"Whose blood?" said Rusl, casting his eyes over the red-brown stains across her armour and face.

"Not mine," said Ashei.

"I'm going to find that doctor in the western thoroughfare," said Rusl. "Sorry I didn't come back; I left my sword at the top of the stairs."

"Okay, just watch your step… no, wait, there's one at the top of the stairs… make sure it's dead, yeah?" Ashei gasped hoarsely, sinking back and closing her eyes. "By Din, am I dead."

Rusl nodded, and slipped out of the bar unnoticed.

* * *

Auru was still gently tending to the bruises across the man's body when Rusl returned with Doctor Borville.

"Never, in all my life…" the doctor was muttering, glancing suspiciously at the customers in the bar.

"Just help the poor fellow and be done with it," said Rusl impatiently.

"Yes, yes, of course…" said the doctor, snapping out of his shell-shocked stupor. "But in these very streets! I thought the worst of it was over…"

Yawning slightly, Auru stood, stretching his legs. "Is it safe in the streets again, my friend?"

"Yes," said Rusl. Together they walked back to their table. "The Hylian guard were concentrated on the northern road – apparently they came from the castle."

"From the castle?" said Auru interestedly. "That's quite an unsettling development. How could they have gotten in there to begin with?"

"Perhaps they were working with the shadow beasts?" suggested Rusl, taking his seat.

"Surely someone would have noticed the flesh-and-blood creatures," said Auru.

"The point," said Rusl, "is that nobody can get into the castle now. Everyone's too scared to go anywhere near the main gate. They claim there are hundreds more creatures lurking just behind it, waiting."

"I see," said Auru. "In which case, I've changed my mind. It's no safer here than in the fields, so I might as be at Lake Hylia."

"What's so important there that we haven't already found?" said Rusl.

"The desert…" said Auru. "Back before your time, the superstitious blamed the desert winds for our misfortunes."

"Really?" said Rusl sceptically.

"Why, yes," said Auru. "A lot of the scavenging creatures on the plains came to Hyrule from the desert."

"And you have a hunch?" said Rusl.

"If you must put it that way," said Auru. "That, and it's been a while since I last left town. I do miss the scent of adventure." He yawned quite loudly.

"How long will you be? If we need to find you…"

Auru produced a pencil from his pocket and marked a spot on the map. "There's a lookout tower on the south side of the lake," he said. "I shouldn't be long, just a day or two."

He stood and gently straightened his robes.

"Well," said Rusl, "until later?"

"Until later," affirmed Auru.

* * *

On Auru's whispered suggestion as they brushed past each other, Shad had requisitioned Telma for another glass of brandy. Her mind still on the injured man on the floor, Telma was more than happy to oblige, pouring him two (by mistake, she said), and assuring him that they were free tonight.

"Drink this," he said, bringing the glasses down to Ashei.

Ashei was awake enough to register the second glass. "You don't drink," she managed, leaning against the wall.

"I got two by mistake," said Shad, putting it down gingerly as though it were acidic.

"Well, tell whoever put you up to this that I said thanks." She sculled the glass down, blinked hard a couple of times, and her eyes refocused.

"If it's not to rude too ask," Shad said uncertainly, "what's wrong? I'm quite certain that you've spoke of killing plenty of bandits before out in the fields."

She didn't respond, looking at her empty glass and eyeing the other one. Shad fidgeted slightly, well aware of how awkward this was.

"Why did the damn thing have to _talk_?" spat Ashei suddenly. "Did it go and learn a couple of words of our language just to intimidate me? Did it even really know what those words meant?"

"Well… well… I really…" Shad mouthed something, but words came out.

"I think," said Ashei, "that I need to get back to my inn." She made to stand, but staggered slightly.

"You're drunk," said Shad, "or injured, or both… Here…" He offered her his arm. Ashei slumped onto his shoulder.

"I'll be fine," she muttered.

He led her out, up the staircase and onto the main road. Outside, people were again out and about, feverishly exchanging stories and ideas with their neighbours about what had just happened. Hyrule Castle loomed in the distance, looking not so much ominous as sad and desolate, but there was little anyone could do about that. The centre of government might have been gone, but Castle Town kept running, the sun kept circling, and people kept living their lives, at least for the time being.

* * *

A/N: I selfishly request feedback of any variety, blind hatred or blind praise, thousand-word theses or one-word non sequiturs. Please. 


	2. An afternoon spent with a casual friend

Of course, I want to say thanks to all the reviewers with their suggestions and support. I intend to keep gradually adding to this story until I feel I've exhausted all ideas worth putting down… although that's utterly irrelevant right now.  
What's relevant, come to think of it, is that my internal compass is set to the Wii version (blasphemy!). So if it ever comes up, east is west, left is right, clockwise is anti-clockwise, the seasons occur in reverse order, Link is right-handed, and everybody speaks backwards. Probably doesn't matter, but there you go.

* * *

Chapter Two  
An afternoon spent with a casual friend

* * *

_Three days later_

It was early in the afternoon. Beams of light shone in through a small, high window. The bar was empty except for Telma and the four customers whom she always reserved the table at the back for.

Auru had returned that day from his trip to Lake Hylia. He had spoken with a Zora lady who, it seemed, was quite miffed about everything from her current employer to the weather and everything in between. As to his hunch about the desert, he had not been able to see anything with his telescope, but he had watched Rusl's friend, Link, journey his way to an old prison building deep in the desert. ("You seemed to have passed your aptitude for the blade on to him, Rusl," he had commented, referring to a group of bandits he had watched being killed.)

Currently, their discussion was political in nature.

"The problem is, the Zoras have never been without a leader for as long as anyone can remember," Auru was saying bitterly. "They've never made any provisions for losing their queen without an heir."

"Yes," agreed Ashei. "Sure, we see everything in hindsight, but even then, for the Zoras to be running around like a flock of headless Cuccos? That's just _stupid_." At this last word, she banged her fist on the table.

"Telma," said Auru loudly, head turned to the lady at the bar, "any word on the Zora child?"

"Oh, yes," said Telma, dipping a dirty plate into a metal basin of hot water. "Got a letter from the amazing mister Renado this morning. Would you believe he didn't so much as ask how I was? Anyway, he says the kid's out and about again, but it sounds as if he's not mentally fit to rule just yet."

"Well, that doesn't surprise me," said Shad solemnly. "Queen Rutela _was_ his mother."

"Well, I do hope the boy recovers in full sometime soon," said Auru. "The Zora lady I mentioned told me all about the plethora of problems they'd been having on all ends of the river. If ever in my memory the Zoras needed a figurehead, it's now."

He nodded wisely and then leant back in his chair, staring at the ceiling.

"So the Zoras won't be any help right now," said Ashei, returning to a previous point of discussion. "Fine. Who else might help in reclaiming Hyrule Castle?"

"Nobody will go near it," said Rusl. "I've spent a while watching the northern road; even the most prideful swordsmen are turning back halfway. It'll take nothing short of an army to broach the castle."

"Hyrule no longer _has_ an army," said Ashei. "I told you about the desertions, yeah?"

Rusl nodded.

"The clearing of the castle can be a long-term goal," said Auru. "For now, let us worry about the rest of this great land."

Though they talked quite loudly, knowing that there was nobody to listen in without welcome, Shad wasn't listening; his attention was fixed on the large map of Hyrule that the four of them had drawn. "I still can't make heads or tails of this," he sighed.

"Still stuck in the past?" said Rusl to his right.

"Well… well, _yes_, it's quite a conundrum, enough to make any man go mad…" Frustrated, Shad shook his hand at the map. "Hyrule Castle! How do you transport dozens, maybe even hundreds of monsters into the castle without anybody else noticing? There's no other way in! And yes, before you say so, I know it doesn't make any difference now, but that doesn't make it any less impossible!"

"There's always an explanation, my man," said Rusl, "sometimes you just need to approach your problems from a different light."

"Excuse me?" said a voice quietly from the doorway.

Rusl glanced over his shoulder and saw a familiar face. "Ah, Link! You've returned from the desert already?"

Shad and Auru looked up and nodded in acknowledgement of the newcomer. Link was a young man (about Shad or Ashei's age) from Rusl's village in the south. He had stopped by the bar briefly a couple of days ago, while the Lizalfos attack on the town was still fresh in everyone's mind. Rusl had formally introduced him, and had clearly wanted to sit down a catch up, but the boy had run off almost immediately, saying something about mirrors.

"Oh, if it isn't mister Link again!" said Telma, glancing up. "Is there anything I can do for you?"

Link said yes, did she have anything that would get the taste of burnt boar out of his mouth? Telma chuckled and slipped into the pantry.

"I hope the kid doesn't think he can just skip in and take centre stage," said Ashei darkly, not looking up from the map, which she was carefully appending with the mountains she'd been raised in.

"Kid?" said Auru, trying unsuccessfully to draw her gaze. "You're not exactly old yourself… girl."

"I hope you're not about to vanish again," said Rusl to his friend, standing and grabbing a seat from the nearest table, and placing it between him and Shad. "We've barely spoken since… you know. Here, have a seat."

Link shrugged helplessly, and sat.

"Well," said Shad, "what emergency brings you here, Link?"

"What?" said Link.

"Oh, I didn't mean to sound intrusive," said Shad. "Auru said you went into that prison in the desert the night before last, and to cross the desert again, running, make your way down the cliff-face path to Lake Hylia at about the same pace, and then to drive a horse to exhaustion would only just get you to Castle Town by now. I thought that you must be in a hurry, or running away from something…"

Link flinched as if he'd been slapped, and then muttered something under his breath. Out loud, "Oh… oh… huh… um… has it… only been that long? I can't really remember much of my… journey."

Shad didn't look entirely satisfied with the explanation, but remained silent.

Auru asked the obvious question: "Tell me: what did you see at Arbiter's Grounds?"

"Well," said Link, "the place is in ruins. Most of the floor is lost to quicksand, and entire sections of wall have fallen through. And it's haunted, too. There are Redeads of all sorts, everywhere. I went as far in as I could, but I couldn't go any further than the first couple of floors. There's just not enough floor space left." He sounded very frustrated with himself. "I'm sure there's a way across the quicksand…"

"Ah," said Auru. "You wish to see the cursed mirror with your own eyes? You think it's the source of our troubles?"

Link nodded.

Telma swept back into view, carrying a pleasantly-scented plate over to the newcomer. "Lamb with lemon juice and some herbs," she announced. "It's a left-over cut, though, so it might be a bit chewy."

"So, Link," said Rusl, "perhaps you could tell me everything that's happened since that day in Ordon? Actually, start there. Were you taken with the others?"

As Link started narrating between bites, Shad glanced at Auru, who seemed to be quite interested in Link's story, and the Ashei, who was still drawing lightly on the map.

"You don't care for him?" Shad said quietly, leaning towards her.

Ashei paused for a moment, glanced up to see if he was talking to her, and nodded. "To be honest," she whispered, "I don't really know what to make of him."

"How so?" said Shad, sneaking a glance back to make sure they weren't being overheard.

"Well, there's the fancy get-up," Ashei said. "Sure, he might not be half-bad as a swordsman, but to wear that over the chain mail is just arrogant, yeah?"

Shad nodded. "Maybe it's a psychological thing," said Shad. "He thinks it makes him fight better, or something like that."

She snorted. "Right. That's _real_ likely. Well, I say it's an insult to the Hero's memory. And then there's his attitude. He's-"

"You've only met the man twice," said Shad.

"-very oh-so-humble," Ashei continued, as if the interruption hadn't occurred. "You know? 'Oh, yes, just killed a pack of Bokoblins on my way in, but I'm fine. Really, it was no big deal. See? Not a scratch.' And he _sounds_ completely sincere, but I can tell that he wants us to be impressed, yeah?"

Shad chuckled quietly.

"What?" said Ashei, "Was it my impression?"

"Well, that too," said Shad quickly, "but don't you see the irony?"

"Um… no?" said Ashei. "Unlike certain friends of mine, I don't spend my waking hours buried in books."

"Never mind," said Shad, still mildly amused. "What are you drawing?"

"What? Oh, just mountains…"

Auru and Rusl were still being thoroughly entertained by the 'short version' of Link's story.

"Anyway, the curse on their patriarch had all but destroyed his soul," Link was saying. "The elders helped me find what was left and… remove the curse."

"Horrible," Auru said sadly. "Truly horrible that such things could happen to such a peaceful people. Darbus lives?"

"Yes."

"I'm glad to hear it."

"Is that where you found the bow?" said Rusl, pointing at a wooden device stowed behind Link's shield.

"Yes," said Link.

"That's interesting… may I have a look at it?" Rusl said. Then, as Link passed it to him, "Shad, take a look at this. Shad?"

Looking slightly disappointed, Shad turned his attention to Rusl. "Yes?"

"There's writing on the inside curve or this," said Rusl, pointing. "I'm not familiar with the script."

"Hmm…" said Shad, taking a look, "that might be Goron markings. They rarely use their written language, you know, most of their history is passed down by word-of-mouth. Let me see… it's a bit hard to make out, but it looks like 'bow of hero, treasure of sacred'… 'sacred plains'? No, 'sacred meadow'. What an interesting relic… although it seems quite used, I doubt that collectors would give you much for it."

"I don't plan on selling it," said Link, and by Shad's slight slumping it was clear that that was exactly what he had been about to ask.

"Well," said Shad, "I might have a look through my archives tonight, and see what I can find regarding bows. You're sure?"

"Very," Link said.

"Ah, no matter, I understand," said Shad, "you intend on using this valuable artefact in your travels. No matter – perhaps some day you might change your mind?"

Smiling, the green-clad swordsman shrugged.

"Well," said Rusl, "you still haven't explained to me where you found the tunic, Link."

Link stared at him with a straight face and said in an even voice, "The tunic was a gift from the Goddesses themselves. I am the successor to the legendary Hero… Rusl."

The two of them stared at each other for a moment before bursting into laughter. "Why, Link," Rusl chortled, "I never realised what a good liar you are! Perhaps you should have been raised as an actor…?"

"It all comes naturally," laughed Link, shrugging it off.

Rusl looked at him strangely.

Ashei groaned loudly and all heads turned to her.

"Are you going to be here all afternoon, Link?" she said smoothly, not bothering to phrase the question more pleasantly.

"I don't see why not," said Link, looking at her coolly.

"No, you don't," Ashei muttered.

As she'd expected, Auru and Rusl cast her pointed glances. She ignored them.

"Is there any particular reason that you're… disinterested?" said Link carefully.

Ashei was quick to supply an answer, counting off on her fingers. "Quite a few. We don't know you, you can hardly expect us to just suddenly be nice to you because you've run around doing a few errands, you can't be taken seriously in that tunic, Rusl's the only one of us that knows you, your fancy imitation sword weighs you down and makes you look like an idiot when you walk… there's more, I'm sure."

Link looked quite taken aback.

"Ashei," said Auru carefully, "perhaps you should sit down."

She had stood up at some point; she hadn't noticed. She remained standing.

"Well…" said Link slowly, looking uncertain how to respond, "perhaps I could leave now, if my presence is, um, so offensive."

"No, please, stay," Ashei smiled coldly, "I'm sure you can learn from your mistakes."

"At the risk," Shad began loudly, and he glanced at the two of them nervously. "At the risk of getting mixed up in this argument, could I just say that bad blood between allies is a proven recipe for disaster? I mean, recall the First Great War. That only-"

"Perhaps, Shad," said Ashei, not taking her eyes off her current antagonist, "you are right."

They stared at each other for a moment, the other three men exchanging glances because they'd seen Ashei do this ten hundred times before. Link said nothing, prompting Ashei to fill in the silence.

"Perhaps we could make a friendly wager, to get to know each other better?" Ashei said, reaching into a pouch on her belt and withdrawing a purple Rupee.

Link looked at her, puzzled, and then nodded, tossing the same amount of money onto the table.

For the first time that day, Ashei smiled.

* * *

'The Betting Game' was a pastime that Ashei played every so often with the sword-waving crowd who frequented the bar. It was essentially that timeless sport, sparring, with a set of house rules that Ashei had slowly developed to avoid needless injury to her opponent, and perhaps to herself, one day. 

"Two wooden swords," she explained, outside in the courtyard where the afternoon sun left the tiles painfully hot. "No other weapons of any kind, no shields. The winner is the first person who would kill the other if the swords were real. Got that?"

"Sounds like you've said that a lot before," said Link.

"We eat for free a lot," said Ashei.

"Hmm. Will the swords break?"

"Haven't yet."

"What counts as foul play?"

"Making the damage more serious than necessary."

"You ever lost?"

"No," said Ashei, and offered him a choice between swords.

Shad said that he would mind Link's belongings (seeming particularly interested in his sword), and Auru said he didn't wish to go outside. Rusl was eager to watch, naturally enough. "I'd love to see how much your sword technique has progressed since I last gave you instruction," he explained in a whisper. "Besides, Ashei's father was a sword-master of the highest calibre. I fashioned blades for him, but I never had a chance to fight with him. This is as close as I'll ever get, if you know what I mean."

Ashei was thinking along the same lines – Rusl had spoken quite fondly of his protégé's aptitude for the way of the blade, and he wasn't a man given to exaggerating. The way he stood at the ready now, wooden sword held lightly in his right hand, weight focused on his back leg, a mirror image of her stance, promised that he would put up a fight, at the least.

"You ready?" she said.

Link nodded.

"Okay, go." They stood ten paces apart, just out of range for sudden attacks. Ashei waited to see if he'd make the first move, until about twenty seconds had passed, and that clearly wasn't going to happen. She decided to make the first move, but carefully.

Slowly, step by step, she inched forward, gradually closing the distance between them. Another ten seconds, and she had moved so close she could kick him.

She slid forward another step, and without breaking eye contact, sensed Link's grip on his blade tightening ever so slightly. A moment later, he brought his sword up and down in a zigzag motion, striking twice on either side. She only just blocked the first strike and easily parried the second, launching an attack of their own. They exchanged a quick succession of strikes and swipes for five or six seconds before Ashei withdrew. She now had a good idea of his strength, speed, reflexes and favoured direction, and presumably vice versa.

As soon as his breathing steadied, Link moved in again.

The fight lasted about two and a half minutes in total, a long time by any standards for a one-on-one. For the most part, it consisted of fast, standard sword techniques, broken up by the occasional original manoeuvre, which, once it was over, was all anyone really remembered of the match.

Link nearly hit her with a very unorthodox move – he feinted with a right-to-left swing and, as soon as she made to parry, spun around full circle with a hoarse yell, bringing the sword around the other way with impressive speed. Her sword on the wrong side, she hopped back just in time.

One-and-a-half minutes in, Ashei noticed that Link particularly liked to follow up a sequence of rapid slashes with a quick forward thrust; the next time he jabbed, she was prepared knocked his sword down violently with her own, stepping in and reaching for his neck with her free hand at the same time. He reacted just in time, though, and sidestepped out of the way, leaving some distance between them.

By the last few seconds, both of them were exhausted, having both anticipated a much shorter bout either way. They circled each other one last time, gasping for breath. Ashei decided that Link was tired enough not to easily dodge a more aggressive attack, and, throwing caution to the wind, raised her sword with both hands above her head and rushed him. Link evidently had had the same thought; he started running for her at the same time, leaping as he neared her to put his full weight into a vertical slash.

Their swords met and locked – for a split second, as Link's full weight bore down upon her, he pushed Ashei's sword so close to her face that she could lick it. Then he landed on his feet and their locked swords hovered between them.

It was only three or four seconds that they spent there, pressing against each other with as much force as possible, locked in a mutual grimace. Ashei twisted her sword slightly, angling her hands so that her sword applied the most pressure where the blades met.

It worked; the blades pressed towards Link's face and he stepped back to avoid the contest. Ashei was upon him the moment he did, bringing her sword up under his guard and up to his neck. Despite the force with which she had gripped it mere moments ago, the pressure on his throat was light.

"You're dead," she panted.

Link cursed loudly, reminding her ever-so-briefly of her father.

They broke apart, Ashei taking Link's wooden sword from his hand and tossing it into a corner while Rusl watched, looking slightly disappointed. It was more to Rusl than Link that she spoke: "You're the most difficult competition I've fought since my father died," she said (consolingly, or so she thought).

"Hey, it was only fifty Rupees," Link whispered, shrugging. (He talked to himself? Interesting tic.) Then, facing her, he said, "Well, that was… wow, you're good."

"That's the spirit," said Ashei. "Fifty Rupees wouldn't buy you half a woollen hat in this town, anyways. You want to talk technique? The spinning attack you did looked well practiced, yeah?"

Link shrugged again. "All right. Seems like I could learn a lot from you…"

Rusl stopped leaning against the door. "Good one, Link," said Rusl. "I look forward to seeing you win next time."

"Next time?" said Link.

"I've known you your whole life," Rusl said, opening the door and stepping inside. "Don't be too long, Ashei." He closed the door behind him.

"Right," said Link, looking at Ashei, "how did you do the sword-locking thing? Tension in the arms or something?"

"It's not just brute force," said Ashei, starting to pace, "it's in the way you hold your sword. I don't see why you care; it's rare – chances are you'll never lock blades like that again, friendly or real fight. But if you must, look carefully…"

* * *

Rusl returned to his seat and found that Telma had brought out a jug of water for them. 

"I can't read your face in this light. Who won?" said Auru.

"Ashei," said Rusl.

"Ah, naturally," said Shad. "Well, then, are they coming back inside?"

"Not soon," said Rusl. "They're talking."

"Oh," said Shad, a strange expression flickering on his face. "I see… I suppose they're flirting or something of the sort?"

Auru chuckled quietly.

"Who, Link? I doubt it," said Rusl. "Why do you ask?"

"Oh, no reason… idle curiosity… I wondered perhaps… it doesn't matter," Shad flustered. In the dim light, his face looked flushed. "Erm… well, then… have a look at the fellow's sword, will you?"

Rusl looked quizzically at Auru and then shrugged, leaning over the table where Shad had left Link's real weapon. "Well, that's not one of mine," he said, pulling it slightly out of its scabbard. "Not the work of anybody I recognise… hmm, an image of the golden power engraved on the hilt… oh, I see…"

"But you recognise the design, Rusl?" said Shad pointedly.

"Of course," said Rusl. "One doesn't become a good blacksmith without a fine appreciation of his craft. This is either the blade of the legendary Hero, or a very good replica thereof."

"Yes," said Shad, "my point exactly. Rusl… you know the boy well – do you think there's a chance it's real?"

"You want an honest opinion?" said Rusl, fingering the hilt of the sword carefully.

"Well, yes, of course I do," said Shad, "I wouldn't have asked otherwise, would I?"

"Some people never mean what they say," said Rusl by way of explanation. "Having known the boy for his entire life… tragic, what happened to his parents… the Link I know wouldn't wear those clothes at all; they'd attract too much attention; he's never wanted or needed that. That, and the birthmark on his hand shaped like the golden power? Yes, he either is the Hero's spiritual successor, or someone has managed to deeply convince him that he is."

Auru nodded sagely. "Shad suggested a way of testing whether the blade is the one of legend, didn't you?"

"What?" Not for the first time that day, Shad looked worried. "Well, I… it was just theoretical… I mean, surely you could, Auru?… I rather thought that Rusl would say no…"

Auru was still looking at him expectantly.

"Ah, very well," said Shad. "I can see that I'll hear no end of this otherwise… very well, I shall try." He pulled the sword all the way out of its scabbard. Even in the dim lighting it seemed to glow faintly. Very slowly, he put the ring finger of his left hand to the tip of the blade and gingerly pressed it, pulling back with a wince the moment it drew blood, turning the sword flat to catch the tiny trickle of blood from his hand.

A couple of droops of blood crawled down the side of the sword for a few brief moments. Then, as though hours had passed in seconds, the blood dried, cracked, and exploded into a red-brown dust, floating away into the darkened bar.

"Well," said Shad, looking quite delighted both at himself and at the sword, "even if that isn't the genuine article, it has been quite heavily enchanted. A blade like this isn't going to show much wear from battle. Our friend Link seems to have quite the genuine article, there. And what a pity, too… I would have loved a replica like that to add to my collection."

Rusl looked quite impressed by the proof, while Auru was still laughing quietly.

"Auru, what's so funny?" Shad said.

"Oh, nothing," Auru smiled. "I do hope you have recovered from that grievous injury."

"Oh, _that_," said Shad. "It wasn't really any worse than a paper cut, in reflection. Trivial, really, now that I think about it."

"Are you certain you're not in need of a sling?" persisted Auru, the same cheeky grin on his face. Exasperated, Shad sighed and put the sword back carefully.

Nobody spoke for a few seconds. Rusl ran his finger over the hilt of the sword, wondering where it had been forged. Shad sipped the last of his water and, not really able to turn his mind back to the crises in Hyrule, started playing with the glass. Auru simply sat in silence, wondering quietly to himself what Shad would do with himself once (if?) these dark times passed. In the silence, all that could be heard was Shad's glass drumming against the table and Telma wiping down another table near the front.

* * *

"…would have been a much better fighter if he'd kept his eyes on his opponents, not his reflection," Ashei was laughing, as she swung the door open and gestured Link past. 

"Who let him near a battlefield?" Link said.

"It's no surprise, really," said Ashei, as they walked back to the table, "but it was the general of the Hylian army."

"You're kidding?"

"The army's never been renowned for its strong leadership or its well-trained forces," Ashei said. "They never really expect to be attacked – maybe whoever's in charge when this all blows ever will have learnt a lesson from how easily they're being rolled over."

"I hope so, too. No wonder there are so many freelancing swordsmen around town," said Link, sitting back in his seat.

"Are you two still archenemies?" said Auru pleasantly.

"Hey, the lady started it," said Link, putting on a helpless face. He grabbed his shield from under the table and sword from above.

"Never heard that one before," said Auru in a loud whisper.

"That's the Master Sword," said Shad. It was a statement, not a question.

Link paused for a moment, uncertain how to respond. "Yes," he said finally. "Yes, that is the Master Sword."

"Where did you find it?" said Shad.

"One day," said Link, "I'll tell you. You have my word."

"Why not now?" said Shad.

Link shrugged. "You've got more important things to worry about, surely."

"For real?" said Ashei, looking at Link differently. After he didn't say anything, she let out a whistle. "Huh. You _are_ serious about this 'hero' thing, yeah? Shad, why didn't you say that before? I might have been able to win that sword!" She feigned an expression of pain.

"Oh, yes, before I forget, your hundred Rupees are here," said Shad, lightly dropping the glass on the table, trapping the money inside.

"Thanks," said Ashei, "I'd completely forgotten."

"Wait!" said Link. "Shad, could you do that again?"

"Do what again?" said Shad. Link motioned at the glass. "Er, all right, though I don't see why…" He lifted the glass slightly above the table, released it, and let it fall around the Rupees with a clatter. "Not bad, eh? There's a certain height you have to drop it from before it breaks, you see."

Link didn't seem to be listening. "It landed around the Rupees… it didn't touch them at all…"

"Well, yes," said Shad, looking perplexed at Link's fascination. "Tada?"

Link closed his eyes, muttering to himself quietly. "The one I crossed had a hole big enough… and it lands dead centre, so… and inside the chandelier… it's quite wide… I might just make the jump!" He turned to Shad, eyes glowing. "Shad! You're brilliant!"

"What happened?" said Rusl.

"Oh, nothing, nothing," said Link, "Shad just showed me something very obvious that I should have realised before…" He stood up. "Thank you all for bearing with me today. I'm going back to the desert. I can climb that tower."

He grabbed his bow from the table and shoved it between shield and back. They had just enough time to mutter goodbye before he was out of the door.

"Okay," said Shad, "I'm not completely sure what just happened there, but he seems quite determined if he's going to take the long trip back to the desert."

"Yeah," said Ashei. "He's quite a strange guy, though not that unpleasant… so he's really the reincarnation of the hero or whatever?"

"Might well be," said Rusl. "That doesn't really matter as long as he's helping the cause, though. He'll always be a kid to me."

"Well," said Auru, "enough of this idle chatter. We have far more serious things to worry about than our friend right now. I mentioned the sightings in Zora's Domain before, yes?"

"Yeah," said Ashei. "Now, I heard stories of those things, growing up on the mountains. I was planning on heading to the mountain range anyway, so that should certainly be a priority."

"You'll be passing by Zora's Domain, right?" said Rusl. "That might be a good opportunity to assess how they're coping with their troubles, don't you say?"

"Of course," said Ashei.

"Their troubles do bring to mind a certain story about the coronation of Queen Ruto," said Shad. "Just like during the Imprisoning War, they had just lost a well-loved leader…"

Shad continued on this thread for half an hour, making an impressive analogy and showing off his talents of memorisation. Telma, too, spent most of the afternoon pretending not to listen while wiping down every exposed surface in the building. By the time the evening rush arrived, they had concluded their discussion for the day, the younger two leaving to eat in a more open setting.

The next day, Ashei left for Snowpeak.

* * *

A/N: …which was a horrible way to end the chapter, but I couldn't really find a cleaner way to break it off. I beg forgiveness, and (more importantly) I beg for reviews. Surely you wouldn't be so cruel as to not say something? 


	3. A morning spent consulting with royalty

Thanks once again for all the reviews; with the feedback I can (hopefully) keep up the aspects of the story that you all like.

* * *

Chapter Three  
A morning spent consulting with royalty

* * *

_One-and-a-half weeks later_

Ashei wasn't looking forward to going back to Castle Town. Granted, Snowpeak and the surrounding mountains had been subject to unbelievably harsh weather during her stay, but she'd always felt at home in the mountains. Besides, the blizzards seemed to have stopped since the previous afternoon, and the morning sun shining unhindered across the perfectly white hills was truly a sight to behold.

She stood, staring out into the mountains, trying to make out any omens of death or evil now that the air was clear, but the landscape seemed untouched, natural… beautiful, perhaps (not one of her favourite words). She didn't move, not even when she heard footsteps trudging up behind her. Instead, she spoke loudly.

"The weather's cleared."

She waited, wondering if it would elicit a response.

"Yes," replied the Zora. "Do you think it might be a sign?"

"It means no more cold winds," said Ashei. "It also means I can go down and perhaps track the mountain beast if there's anything left of its trail. So yeah, I'm going to call it a good omen."

"I thought you might." He looked faintly ridiculous, a tall Zora soldier wearing several layers of animal pelts all over his body to shield himself from the cold, standing tall and gripping his fish-bone spear ceremoniously.

Ashei had met this Zora about a week ago, a few days after she'd arrived, in less-than-friendly circumstances. Standing beside a group of soldiers, he had told her (to put it mildly) to leave the people of the village alone and to stop using the passageway to the mountains as it would only bring them more ill luck. She, in turn, had replied (with equally colourful diction), giving a spur-of-the-moment monologue about how they'd lost all touch with reality without a monarch on the throne, that it would take more than one human visiting a mountain to doom the Zora peoples, and that if they were willing to throw away centuries of peaceful coexistence with the Hylians over something this trivial no wonder their prince didn't want to go back. The little speech had worked, and he let her pass – although the way she casually fingered the hilt of her sword while speaking may have influenced him.

The Zora soldier had since joined her on the cliff for a few minutes, once or twice a day. They usually exchanged questions and information, her telling him about who she represented and the happenings further down south, him explaining to her, in great detail, almost everything that had happened in the area since the shadow beasts had arrived. Really, the one thing they hadn't discussed was their names.

"I brought a fish," he said. "Bass. It's been cooked especially for your consumption."

"Thanks," said Ashei, "but I haven't really been eating much while I've been up here."

"Hence the bass…"

Ashei shook her head. "It might take a while to eat. I wanted to try climbing down once you left."

An audible sigh. "We consider it rude to refuse a fish that someone's caught themselves…"

"…yet another reason why I'm glad I'm not a Zora," said Ashei, smirking. "Fine, give me the stupid fish. What's the big deal, is it poisoned or something?"

She turned and looked up at the Zora soldier for the first time. He was looking at her; his fish-head mask off. He held out a tightly-wrapped seaweed parcel. She took it.

"It seems the winds have left and carried our misfortunes away with them," he said, while Ashei carefully extracted the bass. "Fish are suddenly plentiful again; they're everywhere you look. I thought that our guest might appreciate something to eat."

"'Course I do," said Ashei. "This thing's going to freeze before I can cut it."

"Here." He reached over and briskly sawed through the fish half-way with the hardened edge of a fin. "Why haven't you been eating before?"

"I don't need a lot of food," said Ashei, taking a bite out. "One of those things you learn in the mountains, yeah?"

"I see…" He didn't appear interested; he was obviously just making conversation. He fell silent for a few seconds, and then took a deep breath, and got to the point. "You might also be interested to know that I've talked to my men-"

"So you _are_ the big fish of the army," muttered Ashei, still chewing. He didn't hear the interruption.

"…and for the most part, they also agree that clearing Hyrule Castle of its monsters would bode well for the Zora people."

Ashei spat out a bone into the snow, and swallowed. "So you'll help?"

"I can't guarantee that," said the Zora. "I may lead our modest army, but this is a very… _political_ matter. My apologies."

"Aha," said Ashei. "So Prince Ralis hasn't returned and you don't want to hurt his feelings behind his back, yeah?"

The Zora didn't look too offended at the jibe. "I've heard rumours from downstream that he's coming back, today or tomorrow. With our current stroke of good luck, it wouldn't surprise me if that were true. You'll still be here tomorrow?"

"Yeah, of course, even if it's just to get an audience with your prince." Ashei frowned, her hand halfway between fish and mouth. "Do you think the kid'll agree?"

"I can't speak for our prince," said the Zora. "You'll have to make your case to him your… do you see that?"

Ashei followed his gaze out into the hills, and spotted a green figure moving through the snow, clearly visible against the snow. She raised her eyebrows (not that anyone was looking) and nodded slightly. "Yeah, I see him. A swordsman friend of mine, I guess you could say. He's been out there for days now…"

"Is this the same warrior who drove the evil from our lakebed temple?" said the Zora.

"It may be," shrugged Ashei. "He's been around."

"And who is that beside him?"

Ashei squinted into the distance, her hand held over her eyes to block out the glare. The Zora was right; someone in a white fur coat was moving through the snow beside Link, arms waving animatedly. "No clue…" Even from this distance, the person's face looked strange. "...Maybe it's the mountain beast?" she said.

"Perhaps," said the Zora, sounding slightly disappointed. "I take it you're done with the fish, then?"

"Hell yeah," said Ashei, rewrapping the fish and dropping it. "I want to see it in broad daylight." She grabbed the other end of the rope that she'd nailed into the ground, and tossed it down the cliff face.

"I'm going back to Zora's Domain, then."

"You can have the fish, if you want. Just make sure the rope doesn't fall out, will ya?"

She grabbed the rope, swung over the edge, and started climbing down.

* * *

"…it's not much, but it's home," Shad said, shrugging, as he held the door open. "It used to belong to my dad."

"Shad, how did you fit the bed inside?" asked Auru, taking in the interior of Shad's dwelling. The question was appropriate; there was enough room between the bookshelves for one to traverse between front door, bathroom, sitting area and bed. Two people was a squeeze.

"Oh, the bed was always there," said Shad, shutting the door. "The bookshelves came afterwards."

"I see," said Auru. "And these books…" – he gestured – "are all on Hyrule's history?"

"Oh, heavens no… I wish I had that many," laughed Shad, carefully making his way to a space with four chairs strewn around a small table. "Those five shelves are for the historical," he explained, pointing. "The two shelves nearest to the bed have a few fictional works, tasteful ones of course. I keep newspapers and everything else in the closest empty space. These shelves shan't fill up for years."

Auru somehow reached the seat that Shad had pulled out for him and sat down. "And you can afford all these books and still eat well, with the earnings of a junior librarian?"

"Well, perhaps a quarter of them, yes," said Shad. "But most of the historical texts are copies I made myself. Yes, that's right, Auru. You see, I have discovered this _excellent_ potion that helps me to write much faster! A shop in one of the back alleys…"

"Pardon the interruption," said Auru, "but I still don't completely understand why you've invited me into your libr… I mean to say, your home."

"Oh, of course, of course," said Shad apologetically, taking a seat. "Take a seat… oh, you have. Ah. Well, I'd offer you a drink or something to eat, but I don't actually have any edibles on the premise except for a few barrels of water."

"Go on," said Auru, a teasing smile on his face.

"Anyway, I was thinking about what you were saying last night about military tricks and cover of darkness and all that… and that got me thinking…" Shad gestured to the table, on which lay a five-month-old map of Castle Town, which was covered with neatly printed writing. "Tell me what you think of this."

Auru gazed at the map intently for a while, breathing quietly. Shad sat back, hands crossed, waiting. After two minutes, Auru spoke.

"It looks to me," said Auru, "as if you're still going on about the appearance of those monsters in the castle. Didn't you say before that you were researching ancient races and artefacts to see if there were any possible links to Hyrule's current problems?"

"I might have become a tad sidetracked," confessed Shad, "but surely you have to see the genius of my theory here… if, erm, I do say so myself."

Auru looked sceptical. "Looking at the map, it seems as if you think they walked across the rooftops and scaled the castle walls…"

"Exactly!" said Shad.

"Do you really think that could work?" said Auru, still unconvinced. "Granted, nobody could see anything through the rain that night, and they might have had plenty of opportunities to sneak in before hand, but… is the path you've drawn across the rooftops actually possible?"

"That's exactly what I was wondering," said Shad. "I mean, there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with it, if these plans are still up to date, but just to be sure… anyway, that's the reason that I was trying to find you, Auru. I want you to get up onto the rooftops and see if you can-"

Now Auru looked incredulous. "Shad, my friend, I'm well past the age of running across rooftops out of curiosity…"

"Now, don't be worried, Auru, it's completely safe… look at this, see?" Shad gestured at another annotation he had made to the map.

"Then why haven't you tried climbing up there?" said Auru.

"Because I simply don't have physical dexterity to attempt such a journey across Castle Town," Shad said. It sounded as if he had been rehearsing that reply all morning.

Auru laughed. "My friend, as much as I appreciate your curiosity, I will not risk this tired, old body of mine for such experiments. Why did you seek out me on the streets and not Rusl?"

"I found you first," said Shad, clearly disappointed at Auru's refusal.

"Well," said Auru, "I suppose that if you so desperately want somebody to try to scale the castle walls using your map, you should consider paying someone to do so, perhaps one of the swordsmen who pass through Telma's."

"You don't think one of the others…?"

Auru shrugged, and carefully stood up. "Rusl has a son," he said. "Gone is the time when he'd do something so risky without a very good reason. As for Ashei, perhaps you'll have luck there, when she comes back. She's about your age, Shad, after all… young enough to be reckless in that way without any deep consequences."

"But if the path works, it means we know how they got in," said Shad.

"What if it was simply magic that allowed the beasts entry?" said Auru. "Anything is possible for a powerful-enough practitioner of those arts; I should know. In these dark times, why couldn't dark magic explain these unfortunate occurrences?"

With the tone of voice which indicated a mild epiphany, Shad said, "Then they wouldn't know about the path across the rooftops, would they?"

A small smile spreading across his face, Auru nodded. "A very interesting point… I suggest you discuss this with Ashei when she returns; I'll mention it to Rusl. But for now, why don't you go back to hunting down these mythological species, Shad?"

Shad nodded, smiling widely. "Oh, of course, yes… what I was thinking, ignoring my work, I'll never know… yes, I'll go and continue my research on the Oocca."

"Good," said Auru. "I'm glad we've agreed on something. Do you think you can link the problems facing Hyrule with these creatures of yours?"

"Heavens, no," said Shad. "Pardon the pun, of course. If they were real, they most certainly would have been benevolent, not malevolent. I mean, one of my father's texts in particular… but you don't care about that, do you, Auru? No, what I think is that if I can find any trace of these species, some relic they left behind, we might be able to find a… cure, if you will."

"Well, I suppose I'd better not interrupt you," said Auru. "I'll see you tomorrow night, then?"

"Yes," said Shad, "I suppose so."

Shad turned back to his reading, and after a few seconds, Auru quietly left, squeezing between the bookshelves which faintly looked as if they might collapse on him at any moment. He let himself out of the door.

* * *

Clinging onto the rope, Link reached the top of the cliff, scrambled onto firm ground, and then turned and waved. In the distance, the beast returned the wave, before turning back and almost vanishing into invisibility against the snow.

"So," said Link, a sad smile on his face, "what have you been doing up here, Ashei?"

"Not much," said Ashei. "I never managed to get further than the ice lake without losing my sense of bearing in the wind. On the other hand, I've gotten unlimited access to the Zora rumour mill. But listen to me blab on… what happened out there? It's beyond _my_ imagination."

"It's a long story," said Link quietly.

"In one word or less," said Ashei, "is there any point in my going out there, now?"

"No, there isn't," said Link.

"Pity. The weather was just clearing up… although I bet that's related." Ashei jerked her head towards the mouth of the tunnel that led back to Zora's Domain. "Give me the short version."

Link was happy to oblige; even striding quickly, the path took about ten minutes to walk. He'd found the beast (he refused to elaborate on how), and followed him to his house, an impressive if battered mansion on the far side of one of the peaks. Then there was something about a cursed piece of mirror, which had been bringing ill luck to the yeti and his wife (yes, apparently they had the concept of marriage). "It took days," he added, "there were monsters running all around the place, and they'd gone and locked up the cursed item and forgotten where the key was."

"You destroyed it, though?" said Ashei.

Link hesitated. "Yes, I finally managed to get rid of it. Just in time, too. The poor woman had nearly lost her mind."

"Well, he seemed quite happy."

Ashei had run all the way to where Link and the mountain beast were standing, exchanging farewells. The yeti had seemed friendly enough… he was best described as a bit like a loud, fuzzy Goron who spoke broken Hylian.

"How in the name of the Goddesses did you track the beast through that blizzard, by the way?" she added. "I've seen lots of things in the mountains, but the tracks were already a day old when you first got up here… I've got it – you used a tracking hound or something, yeah?"

Link shrugged. "More or less. Are you going straight back to Castle Town or staying here?"

"Straight back," lied Ashei.

"I might stay around and see if Prince Ralis returns soon," Link replied.

"Actually, I was going to try to get an audience with their little prince," said Ashei.

"I'd best be off, then," said Link, grinning.

The tunnel widened and suddenly they had reached the Zoras' village, complete with the calming sound of many voices drowning each other out. As Zora's Domain came into view, and they snuffed out their torches and lanterns, they saw far more Zoras than usual wading in the river and chatting happily.

"I haven't seen them in such a good mood since their queen died," said Ashei.

"The village looks so… lively," said Link.

"It's not a half bad place, is it?" said Ashei, nodding.

"Excuse me, Hylian. Are you Link?" The Zora soldier posted by the tunnel, not one Ashei had seen before, looked at her companion.

"Yes, I am," he said.

"Our Prince Ralis returned just an hour ago," the Zora explained. "He said that you might be in the area. You must go to the throne room and see him."

With a sideways glance at Ashei, Link nodded. "With all respect to your prince, who I'm sure will be a great leader for the Zoras, I can hardly be expected to climb the rocks and vines on the cavern walls just to reach the throne room."

"I see," said the Zora, who clearly hadn't considered that Link wouldn't be able to swim up the waterfall. "You could access the throne room from the fields… no, in fact I shall go and tell him that you are here. The prince spoke very highly of you; perhaps he might speak with you here… although it's customary to meet royalty in… oh, what does it matter? This is a good luck day… he won't have me executed…" He glanced at Link again, and then, as if coming to his senses, strode to and dived into the pool at the foot of Zora's Waterfall.

Ashei let out a low whistle. "I'd forgotten… the prince must have remembered you from back when Telma was keeping him in her bar."

Link absent-mindedly straightened his cap. "You _did_ say you wanted to speak with the prince, right? I'm just helping you out."

"Ralis would have spoken to me," said Ashei, thinking of the 'big-fish' Zora who led the soldiers.

"If you say so," said Link sceptically. "Oh, that must be him… that was quick."

Ashei followed his pointing hand with her eyes just in time to see a small Zora jump from the top of the waterfall, gliding down to the lower pool, and land in the basin with barely a ripple. Wading Zoras deep in conversation darted out of his way, and Ralis swam quickly towards the bank which they stood on.

"He looks much healthier now," Ashei muttered.

"You're not going to thank me for my help?" said Link.

Ashei didn't have time to utter a friendly insult before the Zora prince leaped out of the pool at a considerable speed. He hit the ground and rolled over his head, landing smoothly on his feet.

"Link!" Ralis exclaimed, embracing him. "You came! I _thought_ you might have been in the mountains after we last spoke!"

"It's great to see you again, Ralis," said Link, returning the embrace. "I knew you had decided to come back, but this is sooner than I'd expected."

Prince Ralis shrugged. "The point is that, thanks to you, I made it home at last." For a moment, his gaze drifted past Link and into the air, and his voice sounded slightly pained. "I think all of us carry… heavy hearts, but I will do our best to see that our village's wounds heal as quickly as possible. And look-" he turned and swept his arm around – "our people are already recovering from my… _our_ loss."

Link nodded.

"All the Zoras' spirits were very low before you came back," Ashei said.

"Is that so…? Then I have made the right decision," Prince Ralis said firmly. He turned with a start. "Oh! Forgive me, Link, I hadn't noticed your lady friend-" (Link winced) – "in all my excitement at seeing you. What's her name?"

"Ashei," said Ashei.

"Oh… Ralis, this is Ashei," said Link. "Ashei, this is Prince Ralis of the Zoras. Ashei is a friend of mine from the mountains."

"Oh, the same friend who drew the yeti?" said Ralis.

"Wait, you were showing that sketch around?" said Ashei in comprehension. "But that was just a sketch! I never gave permission…"

"Yes," said Link loudly, "that's her. She's mentioned an interest in speaking with you. I thought that maybe you could spare some time?"

Ralis looked at her with curiosity and nodded. "Of course," he said. "I don't really have a schedule to keep to, so I'd be glad to talk to your friend."

"In that case," said Link, "I hope you don't mind if I leave you now. I spent days out in the cold and I'm going to try to find somewhere warm to stay."

Ralis nodded. "That's fine. I wasn't meaning to detain you, I just wanted to say hi. Goodbye for now, then, and come see us anytime, Link. You will always be welcome here."

"'Til later, Ralis," said Link, and he walked alongside the river down the path that led into the open, getting splashed several times as he walked down. The Zora prince watched his retreating figure.

"Thank you…" Ralis said quietly. Ashei didn't think he'd meant her to hear. A second later, he turned his full attention to Ashei. "Well, pleased to meet you, Miss Ashei." He frowned. "Was that too formal?"

"No," said Ashei, surprised at the question.

"I have no idea how I'm supposed to act," Ralis said solemnly. "I was schooled to say all the right things, of course, but suddenly now that nobody has the _authority_ to tell me what I'm doing wrong… I'm probably making a complete fool of myself."

"You aren't," said Ashei honestly.

"Perhaps…" said Ralis, "perhaps we should sit?" He glanced around and found a few sizeable rocks a short distance away. He motioned.

Ashei shrugged and followed.

"By the way," said Ralis, settling on a rock, "don't say anything to Link. He has more important things to worry about, and if he knew he'd waste his time helping me." He glanced at the pool and the many Zoras swimming freely in it, and smiled weakly. "Besides, I feel in my heart that I should carve my own river in life, as the saying goes."

"Yeah, of course you do," said Ashei, sitting down across from him. "You need stairs in this place, by the way."

Ralis looked faintly scandalised by the suggestion. "The waterfall area hasn't been touched by sculpting tools for centuries. We so rarely receive other races here that it isn't worth the time and the effort."

"I'm not kidding," said Ashei. "At the very least, you should add some footholds to climb up. It would save a lot of trouble."

"Maybe I will," said Ralis, his face clearly showing that he had no intention of honouring her suggestion. "You didn't come all this way to discuss architecture, did you?"

"No," said Ashei. "I wanted to talk with you about Hyrule's problems… what am I supposed to call you, anyway? Ralis, King Zora, 'your Highness' or what?"

"Please, call me Prince," said Ralis casually. "I'm far too young to be addressed so formally. What were you saying about Hyrule's problems?"

"Well, you've probably heard most of what's happened since the shadow beasts… Prince," said Ashei, "but maybe you wouldn't have heard about the castle?"

"I don't believe so," said Prince Ralis.

Ashei spent the next few minutes summarising everything that had happened in Castle Town, from the burning of Hyrule Castle when the shadow beasts had first appeared through to the more recent appearance of monsters inside. Prince Ralis looked quite disturbed by the news, and several times he opened his mouth to comment but held back.

"…they haven't reappeared yet, but there's no telling when the gates will next open," Ashei finished. She looked at him oddly. "There a problem, oh almighty Prince? You haven't said a word yet."

Ralis shook his head. "No – no… this is quite unsettling to hear, that's all. And you say that the forces in the castle are the source of all these… happenings… in Hyrule?"

"Can't prove it, but if you'd been there you would understand why everyone thinks so," said Ashei. "There's a feeling surrounding the castle… an aura, someone called it… it's like you can taste the despair the closer you are."

Ralis closed his eyes and clasped his hands together, muttering monotonously for a few seconds. Then he opened his eyes and fidgeted nervously with his hands. "I… think I understand what you are trying to say. But what good does it do us to dwell upon the troubles in this land?"

"I had the idea," said Ashei, with a hint of pride and none of modesty, "that with enough people it might be possible to reclaim the castle from whatever is controlling it. You may not be aware of it, but the Hylian military has always been a mess and is even more of one now."

"I see," said Ralis slowly. "So you wish for…"

"As the heir to the Zora throne," continued Ashei, "you have an army of several hundred soldiers at your command, yeah?"

"Yes, I do," said Ralis, "and in response to what you are about to ask: I would be glad to give my support, but I haven't really been well-schooled in matters of war… Ash-ei, wasn't it? I would have to consult with my mother's military advisor, the commander of the army, to see if it can be done…"

"Would he be about this high, with a dark patch on his left cheek?"

"You've met?" said Ralis.

"Several times," said Ashei. "He said it was quite safe to move half your army downstream to the castle area, as long as he had the 'royal approval of awesomeness' or something."

"Oh, I see," said Ralis, clearly relieved. "Well, my mother said that he was a very good commander, so I'll leave the whole matter in his hands… that's not rude of me, is it?"

"No," said Ashei automatically, though she was hardly qualified to assess royal etiquette.

"Good," said Ralis, gazing into the distance again. "When I decided I would return… I never thought about the little things. Leading the people, revitalising our community, that's my duty. But you can't expect me to just suddenly jump into my parents' way of life, can you? How I talk, how I act, how those people – my people – look at me… I'm not even a full-grown adult yet, and I'm not even supposed to act as peers with them, I'm supposed to be _superior_ to them… maybe I just need time…"

With a groan, Ashei stood up, walked over to the Zora prince, grabbed his head with both hands (weird… slippery), and turned his head towards her, holding it uncomfortably until he met her gaze. In her peripheral vision, some Zora guards tensed their grips on their spears, but she ignored them for now. She'd helped Telma out with a fair share of drunks, and this wasn't too different.

"Cut out the sentimental, self-pitying… _idiocy_," said Ashei slowly and clearly, her grip tightening slightly. "You, of all people, have absolutely no right to complain about unfair expectations. You are King Zora or Prince Ralis or whatever title you're using, and you know what? You Zoras are all the same; breaking down under the slightest sign of trouble. Bandits are wandering Hyrule Field untroubled and stormclouds, real and imaginary, are gathering on the horizon, and if your dead mother was half the queen I'm told she was, then she would not be worried about what her subjects thought of her, she'd be worried about her subjects, period.

"You don't want my opinion, but here it is. Go back to the throne room, and don't stop asking questions of everyone you can find until you understand everything that's important in Hyrule right now. You'll need to be informed, because once word spreads that you're back, people are going to want to see you and you're going to show them that the Zoras have not lost their way. And, for the love of the Goddesses, if anybody tells you that you're not acting like a _prince_ should, have them _executed_."

The moment Ashei stopped speaking, she became acutely aware of the silence in Zora's Domain, and realised that she must have been shouting. Zoras from every corner of the village were staring at her.

"Let go," said Ralis coldly.

Ashei let her hands drop to her side.

He glanced at his people, and said loudly, "Go on with your business! I will make my returning speech afterwards!"

Slowly and awkwardly, the sound of conversation and activity crept back into the area.

Ralis turned to Ashei and said, staring, "That was completely out of line."

"Manners were never my strong point," said Ashei, staring back at him.

"While I understand your concern for me… I think I can work this out for myself," said Ralis, a trace of warmth re-emerging in his voice.

"Of course, Prince Zora," said Ashei. "I hope I didn't…"

"I might," Ralis interrupted, "send for my military advisor now. You two can sort out the details and things. I think… I shall retire to the throne room to think for a while."

Ashei nodded, and started to say something.

"And please," said Ralis, holding up a hand to silence her, "the next time you come to my domain, woman, please bring someone a little more – restrained – along with you."

Ashei laughed mirthlessly. "I scare you?"

"You scare me," said Ralis, a smile appearing on his features. "Not as much as Link does, but at least he wouldn't try to kill me…"

She smiled as well. "I'm told I have that effect on some people… all right, then. Go get your advisor, then… what's his name, anyway?"

"He's called Makurel," said Ralis. (Ashei considered the name, and then tried hard to forget she'd ever heard it.) "Well… I suppose there's not much else to say. Tell Link that I'm doing well, and… perhaps a staircase on the western wall would be useful, as you said. I'll think about it. Until we next meet, then, Miss Ashei?"

"Yeah," said Ashei, extending a hand. "See you around."

They shook, and Ralis dived back into the pool, skimmed just beneath the surface, and then effortlessly swam up the waterfall. Ashei watched him as he went, feeling a faint sense of satisfaction, and a vague pang of hunger. She should have eaten more this morning, she thought. Maybe she could ask for a fish…

* * *

A/N: I crave (for lack of a more euphemistic synonym) reviews… just having that acknowledgement that people have read what I've written gives a strange peace of mind… 


	4. An hour spent on nothing of importance

Chapter Four  
An hour spent doing nothing of importance

* * *

_Several days later_

Rusl was sitting on the edge of the fountain in Central Plaza, idly watching people moving about, finishing their daily business as the sun began to lower in the sky. He'd been sitting there for about half an hour, thinking about his wife, Uli. It had been more than a month since he'd last seen her, and perhaps, he thought, it was time to go back home. Her last letter had come and she still had not borne child yet; perhaps it was a divine reminder to him that his home was in Ordon, not here in Castle Town.

With a quiet sigh, he stood, at the same time overhearing a strangely-accented voice, not far to his left.

"…bar run by a woman named Telma?"

Rusl turned and saw the speaker – a black-haired man who looked slightly younger than himself, dressed in a dull red tunic, chain mail visible beneath his neck line and a sword sheathed behind his back.

"Telma? Dear me, I'm not too sure," said a woman, who had been sitting on the fountain edge, talking with some friends, when Rusl had arrived, and who apparently still was. "She's down in the southern thoroughfare, of course… Just head that way and ask for directions again. Sorry I couldn't be more help…"

Rusl stood up, brushing dust of his leggings with the back of his hand. "Excuse me," he called to the man in red, "are you looking for Telma's bar?"

The man glanced in Rusl's direction, running his eyes over him for a split second. "Yes," he said. "I'm not from around these parts."

"I happen to be heading there myself," said Rusl, gesturing in the direction of the southern thoroughfare. "If I may…?"

The man in red nodded, taking a couple of large steps to catch up and then slowing to match Rusl's stride. "Many thanks, sir," he said.

"They call me Rusl," said Rusl. "You're not from around these parts, are you?"

"No," replied the other, "it's the accent, eh? I've been travelling for a few years now. The name's Graff, by the way. Anyway, I heard that if I am in Hyrule, I should visit this bar. Good company, and all that, eh?"

"No doubt about it," laughed Rusl. "I must say, you've picked a hell of a time to visit the land."

"I heard about that," said Graff interestedly. "Sounds like you Hylians could use a few more swords around, doesn't it?"

Rusl shrugged. "Things could be worse." They passed a row of market stalls. A pair of fruit vendors were shouting over each other, trying to outdo each other in exaggerating the benefits of their wares. Passers-by were carefully avoiding the scene with worried expressions.

"Of course," the other man continued, "even in the shambles it's in now, this kingdom looks a sight better than anywhere else I've passed through… maybe it's not surprising, though, if this land really is the centre of the world… you're religious, too, of course?"

"Yes," said Rusl. His brow creased slightly; the road seemed longer than usual, perhaps because people were rushing about to finish their duties before the sun set, making it tough to ease through the crowd.

"And what do you do?" said Graff.

"I'm a blacksmith," said Rusl.

Eyebrows raised, his companion let out a low whistle. "I have nothing but respect for men of your trade," he said. "The one smith I knew myself was a great man… you're a swordsmith, I suppose?"

Rusl nodded. "I haven't made many blades of late, though… ah, just a bit further, that passageway to the right, there."

"Good," said Graff, absent-mindedly fingering the wallet on his belt. "Some money for your trouble?"

"Oh, no," said Rusl, shaking his head, "like I said, I was coming here, anyway. Save your money for your meal."

The foreign man shrugged. "Well, thank you, sir… what's that noise?"

As they rounded the corner to the staircase leading down to Telma's courtyard, they were suddenly able to hear cheers and jeers. Rusl half-smiled and said nothing.

Half a dozen happily rowdy men in varying degrees of sobriety were standing in a half-circle, waving their fists and egging on two young adults circling each other with crude wooden swords: a young man in patched clothing whose name eluded Rusl, who was at Telma's every other day with his friends, who were in the circle; and a young woman with dark hair, dressed unusually with a layer of chain mail on the outside. As Rusl and Graff reached the bottom of the steps, the man swung his sword hard, and the woman parried even harder, before stepping gracefully out of the way and slapping the sword out of his hand.

"Best out of seven!" the man said, grinning toothily (probably trying to be charming, Rusl thought).

"No chance," said Ashei, tossing her sword up in the air with a flick of the wrist and catching it again after two full revolutions. "No way can you win the next four in a row. If you want another bout, it's double or nothing, yeah?"

"You witch," he laughed, retreating back into the half-circle.

With a slight jerk of his head, Rusl caught Ashei's eye. "Evening," he called.

"I've made two hundred and sixty Rupees," Ashei smirked back. "You want to make a bet?" Seeing Rusl shake his head, she added, "They're inside."

"Have fun," said Rusl, who then quietly slipped through the door.

"Oh, I will," said Ashei, without looking. "Who's next?"

* * *

Telma's cat, named Louise, meowed loudly and slinked straight across the countertop, weaving around glasses and hands, largely ignored by those sitting at the bar. Telma, who was leading over a table talking with Shad and Auru, didn't notice and wouldn't have thought anything of it if she had. 

"I haven't seen for myself," she was saying, "but word has it that Mr Chudley hasn't made a sale for weeks, either. People are being more cautious with their Rupees given the state of affairs, and a lot of shops in town are paying the price."

Auru nodded solemnly. "It's the prospect of imminent death. I remember, while I was in my youth, there were a gigantic pack of wild beasts who gave everyone quite a scare… much the same thing happened. People started spending their money on defensive goods, enchanted charms…"

Shad was listening, though his eyes were staring blankly at the half-eaten Cucco sitting in the middle of the table, almost unrecognisable as a bird after heavy roasting. "Has this hurt your bar, Telma?" he said quietly.

"Of course not, honey," said Telma. "No evil power in this world can stop people from eating and drinking whatever they want, whenever they want. It's a fact of life, that is."

"Really?" said Shad.

"Well, here you are, aren't you?" said Telma. She turned back to Auru. "Now, have you seen those builders working with the Gorons out on the western gate?"

Auru shook his head. "Enlighten me, Telma."

"There's nothing really to say," said Telma. "Looks as if they're trying to fix the bridge, there, and about time. It's been more than a year, now, hasn't it?"

"Yes," said Auru. "How can they afford the materials?"

"I'm told that the funds came from the Kakariko area," said Telma. "Not bad, is it? They were hit hard by the shadow beasts down there."

Auru looked suitably impressed. "People will do – oh, good evening, Rusl – people will do the most unusual things in difficult circumstances. I applaud those in Kakariko Village, of course, but one wonders how different things would have been if none of this had ever happened."

Beside him, Rusl took his usual seat. "Sorry I'm late," he said. "I lost track of time."

"A letter?" guessed Auru.

"Yes, from Uli," said Rusl, not looking the least bit surprised that Auru was right. "I should go back to Ordona."

"Homesick?" ventured Shad.

"Not in that sense," said Rusl. "But she's very late into her pregnancy, and I should be there for her. Shad, you're probably too young to understand…"

"That's something of a cliché," Shad murmured.

Auru sighed and raised his glass to his lips, taking a deep, long sip. When he was done, he carefully put the glass back down and asked, "Rusl, will you come back?"

"Yes," said Rusl, "of course. I love my wife and my village and everything it stands for – but to be secluded, sheltered, not doing anything about the evils in this land in Hyrule's time of need…?"

"Very noble of you to say that, Rusl," said Telma, ignoring a shout of 'Barkeeper!' from behind her. "Do you want a drink, dear?"

"Not right now, thanks," said Rusl. "Yes, I'm not sure how long I'll be gone for, though. Anything from a week to a month, depending on how things are back home. So don't count on a speedy return."

"We'll manage," smiled Auru.

With an indiscernible mutter, Telma backed away from the table and went to attend to her customers.

"Rusl?" Shad had that expression on his face he always had when an interesting thought had occurred to him. "You'll be passing through Farore's Woods on your way back, right?"

Rusl nodded. "Of course; it's the only way… and you do realise that it's been named Faron Woods for more than a century now, yes?"

"Sorry… some of my books are outdated," said Shad with an apologetic smile. "Well, if you're in the area, perhaps you could look into something for me?"

Rusl raised an eyebrow.

"Er…" Shad continued, "there's supposed to be an ancient temple deep in those woods – no, I know what you're thinking of, it's not that one – this one isn't on the beaten path."

"Oh, right," said Rusl. "Yes, I've heard those stories, too… the woods are very large; who is to say what might be hidden deep in there?"

Shad went on, "This was said to be reachable back in the time of the Hero, and there are stories of treasures and magical artefacts to be found there."

"So you'd like me to go treasure-hunting for you?" said Rusl, laughing quietly.

"Well, it might be important," said Shad. "Some of these items might prove invaluable for the cause… my books on this disagree, but the things they mention… a set of three stones with powerful magical properties, for instance; that might help with Ashei's clever idea of retaking the castle… an enchanted rod that grants life itself; imagine how powerful that would be… or shoes that allow their wearer to levitate; I'm not sure how much use they would be, but imagine what it would be like to wear them…"

Auru sighed. "Shad, not to be rude, but how can you be sure that these things even exist, let that they're in this temple?"

"One can hope," said Shad simply, a dreamy look on his face.

Rusl shrugged. "If time allows, then I'll see what I can do, Shad."

"Oh, of course," Shad said. "It's silly of me to ask; you're there for your wife, and… yes, don't mind me…" Evidently still imagining levitating boots, he fell into a self-satisfied silence.

Near the front of the bar, the door banged open loudly, and Ashei made her way back to their table, sweaty and breathing loudly but with her usual smug composure. She dropped onto her seat and then tossed a handful of Rupees onto the table.

"Were you tired?" Auru asked.

"No," said Ashei, looking mildly offended at the thought. "They said they ran out of money. Five hundred and ten Rupees total, once you take out my initial bet. I'll cover our tab tonight."

"How very thoughtful of you," said Shad, glancing quickly at Ashei to gauge her reaction. She was looking at him perplexedly. He hastily turned his head in the opposite direction and stared intently at a brick in the wall.

"Ashei, I've decided," said Rusl, "that I'm going to go back to my village for a while. If all goes well, I'll be back here two weeks from now, at most, but I need to do this."

"Yeah, sure, have fun," said Ashei. "Though if things get worse, maybe it starts raining fire or something, cut your trip short, yeah?" Without waiting for an answer, she reached out for the Cucco and ripped off a leg. "Telma! A drink!"

Rusl drummed his fingers on the table and stood. "I should go back to my inn, then. I want to be able to leave first thing in the morning."

"You'll be travelling alone?" said Auru.

"I'll be fine, my man," said Rusl, "it'll take more than a couple of bandits out in the Field to kill me."

"Well, until we meet again, then," said Auru. They shook. "Send my regards to everyone in Ordon, especially your Uli."

"Of course," said Rusl, rising from his seat. He looked at the other two. Shad muttered 'goodbye', with a small smile and a wave of the hand. Ashei said something to the same effect, although it was hard to be sure with her mouth full of meat.

He glanced in Telma's direction, raised his hand, and wandered over to speak with her quickly before leaving.

"We're barely ever all here at the same time," observed Shad, his head angled awkwardly so that he could see Auru but nobody else.

"You're quite right," said Auru. "Hmm… are you any further in your studies?"

"Not really," said Shad. "I'm getting a very good understanding of Oocca writing, but that's hardly much use, is it?"

Auru didn't say anything.

"…I'll find something," Shad said, shrugging.

On the other side of the bar, Rusl slipped out unnoticed.

* * *

A/N: Yes, I know, it's a shorter chapter. I blame a multitude of things (but obviously not myself, because it can't _possibly_ be my fault, could it?) for that. I'm sure it's not that huge an issue to anybody reading this anyway; the point is that I still haven't lost interest in this story. Reviews are welcome as always. 


	5. A day spent happily

Chapter Five  
A day spent happily

* * *

The Hylian foreman, a large, burly man starting to go bald, wiped his brow with the back of a hand, looking thoroughly displeased at the workers running back and forth with planks of wood.

"No, no! That isn't going to hold! By Din, do any of you realise just how much traffic is going to be going over this bridge?" he yelled.

"Hey," said Ashei from a few paces behind him, arms crossed.

The foreman spun around to vent his anger at her. "And what are you doing here, lady?" he steamed. "How many times do we need to tell you people that this bridge _isn't open yet_? If you need to go west, you _have_ to take the south gate out of town, no exceptions!"

Ashei was unperturbed. "I'm not trying to cross, _sir_."

"Oh, really?" said the foreman, crossing his arms as well and looking her over thoroughly. "And what exactly are you doing on a building site, then?"

"I wanted to talk to those Gorons," Ashei replied, nodding across the bridge. "It's not every day you see so many of them in town together, yeah?"

The foreman laughed derisively. "Missy, in case you haven't noticed, they're working on the supports on the _other side_. See that big gap in the middle there? Yes, that one. The Gorons can't just wander over to the town side of the bridge whenever you ask for a play date."

"Yeah," said Ashei impatiently, "that's why I didn't come here earlier. But look at the gap now. It's barely ten feet. A Goron could jump over that easily."

"I'm sick of your nonsense," the foreman replied. "Anyone with a hint of sense can see what a ridiculous suggestion. Maybe they can clear it; I don't care. Everyone here is busy working, and besides, that's a long, long drop straight into deep water. If you weighed that much-"

"Are you going to ask one over to this side or not?"

"No," said the foreman. "Go jump off the bridge yourself if you're in such a hurry, lady, otherwise go around through the south gate like every-"

"All right, all right," said Ashei flatly, shoving past the foreman and striding down the half-built bridge. As the stone ground turned to wooden planks, she broke into a light jog, ignoring the confused shouts of menial workers around her. As the foreman had promised, there was a large gap in the middle of the bridge. (The bridge would probably be finished by the next day, but that guy was _so_ not winning the argument.) The gap was too large for a human to just jump across. Ashei jumped.

There wasn't really any danger, of course – as the foreman had said, it was a straight drop into the rapids. If she missed the jump she'd hit the water, surviving with a few bruises, broken bones… maybe worse. Besides, spend enough time in the mountains of Hyrule, and suddenly a jump of that size seems trivial.

She made the jump comfortably, her outstretched arms colliding with the wood. She dangled by her forearms for a couple of seconds, before pulling her weight up to one side and rolling sideways onto the bridge in a single, practised movement. She stood and found herself facing directly at the stomach of a smiling Goron.

"Not half bad! Not bad at all, Brother!" he (it?) cried loudly, clapping his hands enthusiastically. "Not many humans would attempt such a jump!"

"Yeah, guess not," said Ashei, discreetly taking a step back so that she could see his face.

"So why did you do it, then?" said the Goron. Glancing behind him, Ashei could see the other half-dozen Gorons on the bridge looking in her direction as well.

"Yeah, well, I wanted to talk to one of you Gorons," said Ashei, surprised at such a question.

"Really?" He paused, looking confused. "But why make such a spectacle? You could have shouted to us from the other side of the gap…"

For a split second, Ashei considered saying "Huh, I hadn't thought of that." Obviously she didn't, and instead said, "Well, it's too late for that now, yeah? Who's in charge?" She glanced down and noticed that her left arm was scratched and had a couple of splinters down the side.

The Goron looked surprised by the question. After a second, he said, "None of us here are in charge. The elders told us to come here and help with this half of the bridge, so here we are."

"Huh." Ashei deliberated asking for an audience with the Goron patriarch to see if he could send some form of army down here, and decided that it was unlikely to happen. "Well, tell me about what you're doing here."

The Goron looked at Ashei as if she were a particularly odd circus performer. "We're fixing… the bridge…?"

She didn't say anything.

He sighed. "Okay, we can talk to you if you're really so eager for that, as long as you stay out of our way, human…" He glanced at the other side of the bridge, where the Hylian workmen were shouting something about 'reckless' and 'be arrested' and 'madwomen'. "You Castle Town people are very strange."

* * *

Rusl pulled his the reins of his mount, Skyla, slowing her down to a light trot as they emerged from the woods and into Ordon Village. It was early in the morning and the only person he could see out and about was Sera, cradling her cat as she sat in front of her house.

It was only now that Rusl realised just how much the children's absence had changed the village. It wasn't just quieter – despite the plentiful harvest they'd just had, it felt as though the village was stagnating without anyone there to maintain a state of pleasant chaos. Perhaps it was his eyes playing tricks, but Rusl could swear he saw paint chipping, dust gathering, bricks askew… sad, really.

He let out a sigh, coming to a halt just in front of his house. He slid off his horse, patted her gently, and briefly considered tying here to a nearby post before dismissing the idea with a grunt. There was nowhere for a horse to bolt to, and one as quiet as Skyla couldn't possibly do as much damage as the goats.

"Rusl?"

Uli's head was peeking out of the doorway of their house. There were rings around her eyes and her hair was unkempt; it looked as if she hadn't slept well for days, but the little smile on her face shone through all that and for a half-second Rusl loved her for it.

"Uli… I'm back," he said, realising even as he said it how unnecessary it was, and he walked up the path to her.

"Oh, Rusl… it's been such a long time," said Uli, drawing her husband into a deep embrace. "I didn't expect to see you back so soon… I had your letter, but I wasn't sure…"

Rusl just smiled, returning the hug tightly, before releasing her and stepping back to cast his eyes over her. "The baby still hasn't…"

"Oh, I know," muttered Uli, the little smile spreading to her eyes, "but I'm not worried. These things take time, and… and I think that the baby's been waiting for you to come back…"

"Of course," said Rusl.

"Well, let's not keep standing out here, dear," said Uli, a tiny laugh escaping her lips. "You must be dying for a proper seat…"

Nodding, Rusl gestured slightly with his hand and they went inside.

* * *

They were standing on the bank of a large lake, just to the east of the top of Zora's river. In the late morning sun, the light danced placidly across the surface of the water, a nice, if somewhat bright, sight to behold.

"Once again, young lady," Auru said, leaning on a staff, "it's been years since I last practised the arts…"

"Oh, come on," said the lady beside him, an eyebrow cocked. "Magic is one of those things you can't just forget, right?"

"This is hardly an easy spell, Iza," Auru sighed. "It takes a lot of effort and concentration to make these spells work."

"Well, can't you try? And by the way, Iza is my sister; I'm Hena." She straightened her hat with a look of mock indignation. "My folks spoke very highly of you…"

"Really?" said Auru pleasantly. "Very nice of them to flatter an old man like that… well, I suppose that there's no harm in trying…"

"Exactly. What's the worst that could go wrong?" the girl called Hena said, stretching her arms.

"Nothing life-threatening," admitted Auru. "Let me think…" He fell into silence, gazing thoughtfully at the lake.

Auru stood still for a few minutes, considering the problem. He stared at the surface of the lake until the rippling reflection of the sun was burning into his eyes, and then nodded.

"It shouldn't be too much trouble," said Auru. "Purifying a body of water this large will take more energy than I've used for a long time, but a circle of the right materials would help… yes, yes, it can be done."

"What do you need?" said Hena.

"Metal," said Auru. "In large supply."

"Easy," said Hena, turning and dashing into her rental store. She was back in half a minute, carrying a wooden basket full of fishing hooks.

"That will do," said Auru. "All right. If it isn't too much trouble, young Hena, could you help me arrange these in a tight circle?"

"Okay," said Hena. "What difference does it make?"

They knelt down. Auru carefully reached into the basket and withdrew a hook, placing it gently on the grass. "I've dabbled with sorcery most of my life… one of the many interesting things about spellcasting is how to best draw power. Careful… yes, the really powerful sorcerers are those who can breathe life into their magic without effort. I was never quite that good… magic always left me a bit short of breath."

"Uh-huh," said Hena. She reached in and grabbed a handful of hooks, somehow failing to draw blood.

"Well," said Auru, "it varies between the nature of the spell, but having the right kind of designs directly beneath you when you cast makes it that much more powerful… depending on what you're trying to do, you might use circles like these, or pentagrams, Triforce symbols sometimes… but they take time to prepare, and they can be disrupted easily, so they're all but useless in combat…"

"What would you know about combat?" said Hena. Auru wouldn't have been surprised if she added 'old man' at that moment.

"More than you," he replied. "Again, in my youth. It was once – hmm, I seem to have pricked myself… with one of your hooks – yes, it was once common for travellers to employ swordsmen or mages to protect themselves from bandits. These days, though, there's nothing left in the fields but small packs of marauders without leaders or strategy… safer, but a bit duller, I daresay."

"Uh-huh," said Hena. "Don't people still do that, though? Hire protection, I mean?"

"They hardly need to," said Auru. "And it doesn't pay as much as it used to, either. This is just an old man's opinion, but a little bit of fear is always good for people. Keeps the sun rising, you see?"

"Neat," said Hena. The fishing hooks now formed a large crescent on the ground. "Sounds like a fun way to earn your living… where did you learn all of this from?"

"By asking," said Auru bemusedly. "Most former mages are quite happy to pass on their knowledge. It was true then, and even more so now. It's just that nobody ever really wants to learn… I know a fellow, who's fairly close to your age… he would make an excellent mage if he had ever showed any interest in learning the arts… the scholarly type, if you know what I mean… quite a shame that he isn't. Magic may well be something of a lost art a few generations from now."

"Really?" said Hena. "That's a pity."

"Yes, it is," said Auru, putting down a fishhook between two others. "Well, that should be enough. Give me a little bit of room." He took a long step into the improvised circle.

Hena obliged, stepping backwards. "How long will it take?"

"A few minutes, I hope," said Auru. "Purifying a lake of this size isn't exactly the most complicated of spells. And before it comes up, don't utter a word about money. Enjoying this little exercise is payment enough."

"If that suits you," said Hena, sitting on the ground.

* * *

The midday sun beat down on Castle Town, and the heat was not much better out in the western bridge. Shad had brought with him several glass bottles filled with ice water to combat the heat.

"Excuse me?" he called, spotting a large, impressive man who appeared to be in charge.

"No using the bridge until it's finished," the foreman said impatiently, glancing at him.

"Oh, no, it's not that, wouldn't dream of it," said Shad, "of course not. I'm, uh, looking for an acquaintance of mine… someone said she might be around here."

"'She'? As in her?" The foreman pointed across the bridge.

Shad followed his gaze and saw a dark-haired woman in chain mail talking to a couple of Gorons, making violent motions with her hands.

Taking his lack of response as an affirmative, the man shook his head angrily. "Well, tell your friend that she's not going anywhere _near_ this bridge again until it's done."

"All right," said Shad meekly.

"Girl really must have a bone to pick with the Gorons, huh?" the foreman continued.

"I guess," Shad muttered.

The closer of the Gorons glanced in their direction, and then pointed at them, saying something to Ashei. She said something back, and crossed her arms defiantly. A few more words were exchanged, and she let her arms dropped again.

The further of the Gorons approached her and lifted her bodily with both hands, and with a grunt tossed her across the gap in the middle of the bridge, which didn't look too big by now. Ashei landed on the Hylians' side on her back, slamming her arms into the ground to absorb the brunt of the impact. She was on her feet almost immediately, looking annoyed but otherwise unaffected, and striding haughtily straight towards Shad.

"You!" said the foreman loudly. "Missy, we're going straight to the town guard. I won't have this sort of behaviour under my watch, especially not from-"

"…a woman?" Ashei said dryly, brushing straight past him without looking. She grabbed Shad by the arm, causing him to yelp slightly. "Hey, Shad. Let's get going."

As she herded him back towards the town, Shad turned his head to look at the foreman, and made a small, apologetic smile. The man responded with an angry glare, arms crossed, and Shad quickly turned back and kept his eyes on the path.

"What was going on?" he asked. "Oh, and hi."

"The Gorons," Ashei sighed, "are so belligerent it's not funny."

"Did you try talking to them about that castle-storming idea of yours?" Shad said.

"No, it never came up while we talked about puppies and flowers," said Ashei. She pulled a leather gourd on her belt and took a large gulp from it. "Yeah, a couple hours worth of 'oh, you'd have to ask _the patriarch_ about that'; 'matters of war are for our elders and patriarch to decide'; 'it isn't my place'… like hopeless romantics… you'd think they were scared of thinking for themselves."

Shad tried to shrug noncommittally. "That's a rather… unfair description of them… Ashei, I can't feel my hand."

"What? Oh. Sorry, I hadn't noticed."

Ashei released her painful grip on Shad's forearm, and he exhaled with relief, flexing his fingers a few times to test that nothing was broken, and then staring at the spot where she'd been holding him, watching as the colour rushed back to his arm.

"Why were you looking for me?" Ashei said.

"How did you know…?" Shad said, still staring at his arm.

"You, just out on a stroll? Yeah, a likely tale. Why were you looking for me?"

Looking up, Shad started running his fingers down his arm. "Well, Auru – I mean, er… you remember what I said soon after you got back, about an alternate route into Hyrule Castle?"

"Oh, right. Your rooftop dancing thing," said Ashei. "I still say it's impossible for anyone to have gotten in that way."

"Well, could you at least go and try it out?" said Shad. "Because if you can get in that way, they'll have to fix it once everything's back to normal… I might get my name on a footnote on a plaque somewhere…" He laughed nervously.

"Such noble intentions," Ashei smirked. "What would it read? Shad, bookworm immortal – saving Hyrule one civic structure at a time."

"And," said Shad, trying to steer the conversation back to its intended direction, "if it does work, isn't that good news for your plan of retaking the castle by force? An unusual entrance like that can't be very heavily guarded…"

"You're no tactician, Shad," Ashei said, "but I see your point. I guess you want me to look at it now, yeah?"

"If that isn't too much to ask," Shad muttered.

"'Course not," said Ashei. "I'm not busy. Lead the way."

* * *

Shad directed her to a badly-lit building near the Castle Town tourist booth. One flight of stairs up, they arrived at a balcony overlooking the central plaza.

"Right," said Shad. "This is the place." He took of the bag slung over his back and rummaged through it. "I'm very sure about this… it ought to work, no reason for it not to… just a moment, sorry…"

"Hmm…" Ashei looked thoughtfully at a Goron leaning passively on the balcony rail, and then dismissed the thought. He wouldn't be any more help.

"Aha!" Shad pulled a tightly-rolled sheet from his bag and laid it on the ground, trying to smooth down the edges when they sprang back up. "I made a smaller copy."

Ashei stared at him blankly.

Shad swallowed. "Ahem. Right, yes… so I've labelled clearly the rooftop heights for this half of town. The changes in elevation should make them easy for someone as strong as you to climb, so just follow my directions here, and when you come back you can-"

"How sure are you of these plans?" interrupted Ashei.

"…tell me – what? – er… I'm not quite sure I understand your meaning."

"I don't want to go running around half of Castle Town to run straight into a dead end," said Ashei.

"It can't be a dead end, though," said Shad. "I've made sure…"

"Besides, I don't think I can read your tiny instructions," said Ashei, without looking at Shad's sketch.

"I wrote very clearly," said Shad defensively.

Ashei sighed, and said very pointedly, "Shad, I spent half my life in the mountains. When was the last time you saw me reading _anything_?"

"Hmm, I – oh… oh… I _see_…" A brief look of horror flickered on Shad's face at the thought.

Ashei laughed lightly; it was the first time he'd ever heard her do that.

"Well," said Shad, "well… that isn't a problem… you can't…? no, that isn't a problem… it's not too complicated, I'll just explain…"

"I've got a better idea," said Ashei. "Why don't you come with me, yeah?"

Shad looked even more horrified. "What? Up _there_?"

"Scared of heights?" said Ashei with her usual smirk.

"No, I'm scared of _dying_," said Shad, looking wildly at the rooftops. "The reason I asked you to do this and not me is that I don't have the balance or the fitness or the… you know, all of that… really, I'd rather not."

"Oh, come on…" Ashei motioned at the map. "It doesn't look like a hugely long walk, and it hasn't rained in days… you said yourself that it wasn't dangerous…"

"I did?" Shad gulped.

"Besides, I never said you had a choice in this," Ashei said. She folded the map up and shoved it under her collar, and put a foot onto the edge of the balcony. "Come on, Shad. This'll be a learning experience for you, and I'll drag you up if I have to."

She reached for the roof of the next building to the left, just high enough for her outstretched arm, and climbed onto it. Lying flat on it, she reached out, beckoning Shad to follow.

With a quick prayer muttered under his breath, Shad grabbed Ashei's arm with both hands and let her hoist him up. The gutter on the edge of the roof dug into his chest for a mortifying half-second, and then he was on the roof, wide-eyed and breathing rapidly.

"By Farore…" he whispered.

"Invoking the Goddesses already?" said Ashei, carefully kneeling and then rising into a crouch. "The crowd would have broken your fall."

"That's… not much comfort," Shad said, staring down at the stone-paved plaza.

"Hopeless," Ashei said, pulling the map out and giving it to him. "All right, which way from here?"

"I…" Shad unfolded the map and glanced at it. "We move south-east, away from the plaza, until the buildings stop."

"Got it," said Ashei. "Okay, we're going to climb over this roof, yeah? You don't have to stand if you don't want to; it's just like crawling on a slant. Let's go."

"All right… here goes…" He gingerly reached for a handhold.

Amused, Ashei watched Shad do a surprisingly good job of scrambling up the side of the roof.

"Lead on," she said, gesturing grandly.

With a renewed confidence, Shad started crawling across the roof tiles.

The route Shad had drawn was indeed passable. The roofs of this part of Castle Town formed a gradually rising staircase, where it was always possible to climb from one rooftop on the path to the next. Ashei chided Shad a couple of times, telling him not to look down, and after he got the point, it was smooth sailing. After circling around a side street and crossing over an alleyway so thin that even Shad could just stride from one side to the next, they ended up on top of the building where they had started out from. From there, they crossed over the eastern thoroughfare.

"You'd never see this from the ground," Ashei remarked once they were on the other side, on a flat-roofed building. "You just saw it, like that, looking at town plans?"

"Oh, of course not," said Shad quickly. "I was trying to find something of the sort to explain the monsters in the castle… I had a lot of ideas that came close but looked too difficult to traverse in the end… though I suppose that, yes, that was rather, er, clever of me… slightly…"

Ashei pointed at the castle wall. "Well, I can see it from here. Scale that tower to our right and it would be an easy jump onto the top of the wall. Not half bad, Shad. I don't think you could get all those monsters up here without anyone noticing, but yeah, you've just found a hole in the castle's defences. Not sure whether to congratulate you or have you arrested for conspiracy, but it's a damn good effort."

"Thanks," said Shad, blushing slightly. "Um, Ashei, if it's not too much trouble, can we go back now? I'm not really comfortable up here."

"Oh, being alone with me scares you?" smiled Ashei.

"Yes – well, no, rather not… I mean to say, I don't _not_ like… you're not scary… I mean, if you want to stay… no, I…" Shad mouthed something but no words came out. He swallowed and tried again. "No, it's the height. That's what I meant to say to begin with, the height."

Ashei laughed. "Heh, if you say so. There's no point in jumping over the castle wall now. Yeah, we might land in the middle of an army or something. Okay, let's go."

Shad nodded. "Couldn't we find a… less treacherous way down?"

"Wimp. That's a good idea, though; I'll come back with a rope ladder or something. Now, you coming or not?"

Without waiting for an answer, Ashei turned and started back. Shad stood staring after her for a couple of seconds, blinked, shook his head, and hurried to catch up.

* * *

A/N: Regardless of how well it turned out, that was a _fun_ chapter to write. I was considering ways of fleshing out the very short part with Rusl, but couldn't really think of anything that wasn't just light conversation. Ah, well… maybe next time.

Reviews are fondly appreciated as always, even the really short ones or the really spiteful ones. (And before anyone mentions it, I'm aware that I spent more time dwelling on some characters than others. I don't mind.)


	6. A moment spent in rest

Thanks for all the continued support, and apologies for my tardiness in updating. (Tardiness… sounds like something Shad would say.)  
For those of you who asked, the barrier around the castle isn't something that they can see. Whether it's metaphorical, magical or something else… well, that hardly matters, does it:P

* * *

Chapter Six  
A moment spent in rest

* * *

"I give up…" Shad muttered, slumping sadly out of the sanctuary. A reflection of the sun from a shard of metal lying in the dust pierced into his vision, and he winced and looked away.

"Can I help you?"

Shad glanced to his side. The speaker was a man who must have been at least in his forties. Long black braided hair, and undyed hand-woven clothing… of course, Shad thought, it was the village shaman. He'd seen him in passing often enough.

"No," he said aloud, "I'm just a bit… overworked, I suppose you could say. Tired."

"Tired?" echoed the shaman, with a hint of concern in his voice and eyes.

"Yes," said Shad. The ancient book clutched tightly in his left hand felt far heavier than it ought to have. He laughed weakly. "Funny… you know, I've barely slept at all for the last few days. I thought I was getting somewhere…"

"Do you have somewhere to sleep?" the shaman said. "I could offer you a bed for the night."

"I… really?" said Shad, momentarily taken aback.

"Well, of course! A friend of Telma is a friend of mine, Shad… and this village is hardly short of empty rooms. Follow me." The shaman beckoned down the line of buildings, and began to walk.

"Well… er… all right," said Shad. "I've never depended on the kindness of strangers before, but thank you… oh dear, I can't remember your name…"

"I am Renado," the other said. "Don't worry; it happens all the time. If you find it easier, you are free to call me 'shaman'."

"Renado… okay, I can remember that…" said Shad, his cheeks flushing slightly.

They walked slowly for a very short while, Renado looking thoughtfully at each of the boarded-up buildings they passed.

"That one there…" he said aloud, pointing to the left. "The children from Ordon are all in there. I don't believe I could find room for you in there. Perhaps… on that side there was an inn, of sorts. There should be a bed or two intact. Is that all right with you?"

"Oh, yes… great…" said Shad, blinking slightly to keep his eyes open.

"The boards on the door will need to be removed." Renado turned to face the empty road. "Luda!" he called, barely raising his voice.

There was no sign of movement, and Shad couldn't help himself.

"Erm, Renado… are you sure you were loud enough?" he asked cautiously.

Renado raised his eyebrows but didn't otherwise respond.

Ten seconds later, the door of the house just next to Renado's sanctuary opened, and the shaman's daughter Luda sprinted up to them, a small smile on her face. Trailing behind her was Ilia, the oldest of the Ordonians staying in the village.

"Did you call me, father?" said Luda.

"Yes, my girl," said Renado. "I don't mean to interrupt you and Miss Ilia, but Mister Shad here needs somewhere to stay for the night. Please find Mist… fetch Barnes and tell him he's going to remove the wooden boards from this door."

"Okay," Luda chirped, dashing off in the direction of Barnes' shop.

Shad glanced between Renado and Ilia, and shifted uncomfortably on the spot.

"Please, sit down," said Renado. Shad obliged.

Ilia bit her lip and then spoke, staring at spot a few inches above Shad's head. "You're Shad, aren't you…?"

Shad nodded, wondering with slight trepidation where this was going.

"I guess I should be thanking you, then," Ilia continued. "You told Link to help with my… my memory, right?"

"Um, yes," said Shad, "why?"

She smiled bitterly. "Link is… well… I know him." She paused, clearly uncertain whether to go on. "I don't think he'd do something so… personal… without being told to…"

"Er… well, when you put it that way…" Shad muttered. He hadn't really thought about it that way at the time… in his mind, the girl had only been there to say something about the rod of the heavens… or perhaps he had been staring at those notes of his father's too long?

"Well," said Ilia, "Shad, thank you for asking Link to… and…"

"Ilia, my child," said Renado quietly, "don't dwell on it. Link will come back when he wants to."

"If he does," said Ilia tonelessly, staring off into the distance.

Shad bit his lip, looking between them. "What are you two not telling…?"

Renado glanced at him coolly, and Shad felt a sudden chill. He took a step back instinctively.

Loudly and suddenly, Luda came skipping back. "Father!" she cried. "He says he's coming!"

"Oh, good," said Renado. "Thank you, Luda."

"No problem, father," said Luda politely, bowing her head slightly. She looked at Ilia eagerly. "Can you keep on going, please, Ilia?"

Ilia blinked, snapping out of her reverie. "Of course, Luda. What was I saying?"

"Um… lemme think…" Luda reached up and grabbed Ilia by the wrist, gently dragging her back to the house. "Something about pumpkins?"

"Oh, right – Sera and that patch of pumpkins!" Ilia laughed, letting herself be carried off. "Yes, that was hilarious. It was just before harvest, and…"

With a callous slam of the door, they were out of earshot.

Renado was still looking at him.

"Um…" said Shad, "I didn't mean to be rude…"

"It's best for Ilia," said Renado gently, "if you don't say anything that might upset her right now. She's only had her memory back for a few days. The poor girl has been through a lot; she needs time to recover."

"Oh, I see," said Shad. ("I think…" he added under his breath.)

"Good," said Renado. "In times like these, people can be very… high-strung. It's for the better that we don't burden ourselves more than we need to… you understand?"

"Yes, I see," Shad lied, fighting off a sudden wave of tiredness. "I'll…" He stifled a yawn. "I'll keep that… what you said… in mind, mister – I mean, Renado."

Renado nodded, and, seemingly satisfied, turned to look down the road in the direction of the bomb shop. "Knowing Barnes, we'll have a few minutes to wait… sit down, if you want."

Shad was more than glad to oblige.

* * *

"Why is it," said Rusl, raising his voice slightly over the evening din, "that you're never here longer than ten minutes at a time?"

He was talking to Link, the farmhand from his home village who occasionally drifted through Telma's bar. Link didn't answer, instead raising his eyebrows and taking a gulp of water.

A bowl of bruised fruit sat in the centre of the table, largely ignored. When Telma went to remove it later that evening, it would leave a slight ring-shaped watermark on the map below.

When a few seconds had passed and it was clear that Auru didn't intend to break the silence, Rusl went on. "I mean, I understand if you're busy nowadays – everyone is, and it's going to be like that for a while to come… but even in Faron Woods you didn't want to stop and talk. Are you so busy helping save Hyrule that you can't spare an hour's time?"

"Rusl…" murmured Auru, looking at him pointedly.

Link exhaled quietly, and met Rusl's eyes. He said nothing.

"You're practically an adult, now," Rusl continued. "In these last few months, you've seen a lot of blood, haven't you? Quite a change from the last… seventeen, eighteen...? years of your life."

Still no response; not that it surprised Rusl.

"Is that it?" said Rusl, not really looking at Link any more. "You've ignored what you've done – that blade on your back has seen more blood than many a sword will – because you don't want to see yourself as a killer. That's not what we raised you as when your parents died; that's not what any sane young man would want to be."

He paused again, gazing blankly past the green-clad farmhand. Auru sighed audibly.

"I have killed creatures," said Link, breaking the silence unexpectedly, "and people too."

As if suddenly recalling whom he was talking to, Rusl turned his gaze back to his former protégé.

"But," said Link, leaning forward onto the table, "I'm fine. I don't need your empathy, Rusl… no offence, but I'm not lonely…"

Link smiled, a dreamy look passing across his face for a split-second, shook his head, and stood.

"I'm sorry, it's too loud in here," he said. "I'll be outside."

Without further ado, he left the table, carrying a bunch of grapes with him.

* * *

Telma was leaning over the bar, polishing a pile of glasses with a damp cloth, as she listened casually to her patronage. Tonight, the loudest speaker on the bar was a Hylian foot soldier complaining for the world to hear about his superiors. Next to him sat a Zora who might have been a soldier, too, judging by his size and build. Further along the bar were a young man and woman, talking animatedly about potion-brewing… from her experience Telma recognised their body language: mutually unrequited love. How cute.

"Especially now, without the royal family," said the Hylian soldier, who had a sliver of beef stuck in his teeth, "nobody knows what they're doing anymore. No sense of planning, or anything." He scowled. "Mind you, it wasn't much better before."

"I don't doubt it, hon'," said Telma placidly, though she was listening to every word spoken.

"It's terrible," said the Zora. "But surely, for now, it doesn't matter as long as you can defend the people of Castle Town?"

The Hylian soldier snorted derisively. "Not going to happen. Think about it. The army's all unskilled, half-trained – I'm nothing special either. Anybody with an ounce of talent knows that they'd do better working outside the army. Mercenaries, bandits, private guards… they get paid properly. And what does the Hyrule Royal Army have? Strength in numbers, maybe… not that that's much use against all these beasts. Have you seen how many there are, in town, in the fields, _everywhere_?"

"I'm surprised you haven't deserted," said Telma, putting some glasses under the counter. "By Nayru, you wouldn't be the first."

"Oh, I will," said the soldier immediately. "Tonight, when I'm supposed to report back."

The Zora looked concerned. "But surely your human army needs you. Especially now."

"One desertion won't change anything," said the Hylian, and before the Zora could interrupt, he added, "A hundred desertions won't either. You know, if there's ever a serious attack on the town by monsters or bandits or whoever, it wouldn't make any difference whether or not the army turned up. You know what they train us to do? 'Point your spear, and charge!'; 'Keep that spear pointed and retreat!'… or 'Spears ready – hold your ground!'… Goddesses help us if the enemy knows how to _parry_ or anything fancy like that…"

Telma had heard it all before, so she didn't argue. Instead she said, "Will you still be able to pay for food?"

"Oh, I have it all worked out," the soon-to-be-ex-soldier said. "People are paying good money for escorts out in Hyrule Field. I know some friends who are doing that; I'll go and join them."

"I see," said the Zora, who looked very disturbed. He looked at Telma. "These… desertions… they're happening all the time now?"

"Uh-huh," said Telma. "Not very noble, but sensible, if you ask me. Maybe the commanders and generals or whoever's in charge see reason after a while."

"I need another drink," said the soldier suddenly.

"You already owe me four hundred Rupees just from last night," said Telma. "Are you sure you can pay by the end of the month?"

The soldier paused, his mouth half-open. Across the bar, someone yelled, "Eh! Telma!"

"And before you answer, just because you're going to leave town soon, that doesn't mean I can't ask one of my many clientele to chase you down," Telma added, an amused smirk on her face.

"I'll… cancel that order, then," the Hylian soldier said.

Telma laughed. "Thought so." She swept away from the bar towards the tables.

* * *

Standing in the courtyard outside Telma's bar, with a wooden sword in one hand and a pebble in the other, she sighed loudly. With an exaggerated movement, she tossed the pebble up in the air and caught it.

"If you don't mind," she said slowly, "could we get moving?"

Ashei had already won half-a-dozen bouts so far tonight, and watched a half-dozen more, and she wasn't even beginning to tire. Today one of the swordsmen, the one in front of her wearing the red tunic, had brought in a third wooden sword. It had made the sparring games that she played that much more interesting – suddenly there was the possibility for free-for-all contests. Not that this changed anything – she still hadn't lost a round.

Right now, the one in the red tunic, another young sword-waver with a slight squint, and Ashei were beginning a two-on-one. Ashei was, obviously, the 'one'.

"I mean," she said aloud, "I understand that it's harder now that you can't just swing at everything that moves, but I'd really like to get started."

Neither Red-Tunic or Squint replied, instead shifting and digging their feet harder into the ground.

"Or are you seriously expecting me to charge you?" said Ashei.

No response, which she took as an affirmative.

Sighing, she started edging towards her two opponents, sword held vertical so that she could defend on either side of her with equal speed. She stopped just outside of jabbing distance, and considered her two opponents. Red-Tunic, on her left, favoured horizontal strikes to the rib area. He was holding his sword two-handed, raised slightly in preparation of her opening blow. Squint, to her right, preferred to thrust with his sword from a distance, though tonight he seemed to be making a conscious effort to come in close and engage more often. His sword was in his right hand, his left raised to shoulder height as a weak counterbalance.

Misinterpreting her pause, Squint said, "What – scared?"

Ashei smiled, and then sprung to her left towards Red-Tunic, sword angled horizontally. The moment she hit the ground, well within Red-Tunic's sword-reach, she pushed back, moving in the other direction and turning her head. Red-Tunic reacted with a sweeping strike, a quarter-second too late; Squint, as expected, tried to jab at her as she retreated into him. She deflected Squint's sword with hers, slammed her left forearm into his neck, and a split-second later she was behind him, holding him firmly in a chokehold with her left arm and pressing the flat of her sword against his throat with the other. His sword arm was still in front of him, frozen in surprise.

"You're dead," she said.

Squint swore, and complacently dropped his sword. A couple of cheers and claps from some of the men watching were drowned out by the moans and 'boo's of those who had the audacity to bet against her.

"Okay, I lose, you can let go," said Squint.

"Just a moment," said Ashei. She looked over his head to Red-Tunic. "That makes this a one-on-one again. How about you just concede now and we have a rematch?"

"No way." Red-Tunic shook his head.

Ashei briefly considered shoving Squint at Red-Tunic, but thought better of it. She grabbed Squint by the collar and pulled him behind her, and walked casually towards her remaining opponent, her sword held loosely by her side.

Red-Tunic leapt at her, his sword swiping at her neckline. She brought hers up to defend just in time. They exchanged blows and parries for about eight seconds. The moment that they'd settled into a rhythm, she angled her hips, dodging a strike instead of deflecting it, and using the momentary surprise to slam her sword into the side of his wrist. He dropped his sword, and Ashei finished with a lazy jab to the stomach.

"We said a hundred Rupees, yeah?" she said, holding out her left hand. The actual number was two-hundred, but she was feeling unusually nice this evening.

With a begrudging smirk, Red-Tunic shook her hand, passing her the money as he did so. "Good game."

"As always," she said without a trace of humility, and she turned away from the various young swordsmen and other who were already negotiating who would fight next.

By now, the sun was beginning to set, and people were starting to drift into the bar from the thoroughfare at an increasing rate. Telma's patronage was slightly younger than most bars – aside from Auru, it was a rare sight to see somebody over fifty in there. A strong-flavoured menu and a colourful history had made Telma's bar particularly popular with idealists and would-be heroes, hence the unusual mingling of scholars, street-vendors and swordsmen.

A vaguely familiar green-clad figure caught her eye as she looked at the steps that led into the street, and Ashei paused for a moment trying to remember what the genuinely-skilled swordsman was named.

"Link!" she said, raising her voice slightly. "Long time, no see!"

Halfway up the stairs, Link turned around. "I've been here for the last hour," he said.

"Oh, really?" said Ashei. She shrugged. "Yeah, might have been. Where are you off to this time?"

"There's a guy in Lake – Fyer, that was his name. He's doing a favour for me. I'm heading back to meet him now," said Link.

"Ah," said Ashei. An obvious thought occurred to her, and she smiled. "In a rush?"

Link frowned, considering. "Not really, but I'd like to leave before Rusl and Auru do… why do you ask?"

"You want a rematch?" Ashei said, motioning with the wooden sword in her right hand. "Our last one was kinda close… and you're a better fighter than most of these losers here…"

Link paused for a few seconds, instead glancing at the people sitting around her. "In front of them?" he said.

"Does it make any difference?" said Ashei.

With a shrug, the green-clad swordsman hopped off the stairs, and walked up to her. "All right," said Link, "but no money this time."

"Aw, come on," said Ashei with mock annoyance. She glanced behind her and yelled for someone to toss a sword over.

"Sorry, I'm broke," said Link, catching the wooden sword upside-down by the hilt.

Ashei groaned good-naturedly. "Fine. Same rules as before. Though I'd advise against running into any of the guys on the ground; they're not all sober."

"I've gotten better in the last month," said Link, raising his sword with both hands.

"Yeah?" said Ashei.

She started walking towards him, her guard raised.

"Yeah," said Link, his left foot in front, shifting his weight between his legs.

Link waited until Ashei was comfortably within range, and then swiped diagonally. It was a simple, solid strike, which she parried without any difficulty.

They both began a haphazard exchange of strikes, and for the next few seconds this was all they did, never exerting more energy in blocking or avoiding the other's attacks than necessary. After a short while, they both disengaged, backing off just far enough for a reprieve.

He bent his knees slightly, lowering his centre of gravity, at the same time holding his blade in front of him, pointed straight at her. Meanwhile, in her mind's eye, Ashei was trying to think of sequences of feints and strikes that would catch Link off-guard.

They moved back in at the same time; Ashei thrusting her sword from her waistline to Link's neck; Link stepping towards her and spinning around so that his sword deflected hers. Another step brought him full-circle and his blade passed a hand's-length in front of her throat. He took another step, and Ashei was moving backwards, wisely deciding not to parry a spinning attack with that much momentum. Link completed another three full rotations before stopping suddenly, his sword still pointed at her – but the spin had left him slightly off-balance, and Ashei took this as an opportunity to retaliate in kind.

With a calculated strike, she brought her sword into his. With his tightened grip on his sword, that move brought him off-balance, and he stumbled slightly to his left. Ashei stepped in and swept her sword back in the other direction, but to her surprise, he didn't try and break his fall, instead dropping underneath her attack and rolling around to her side. Ashei turned around with one fluid motion-

-and Link's sword hit her hard in the stomach.

To her credit, Ashei took to losing quite amiably. She winced at the sting of the blow to her abdominal muscles, but then laughed. "Good one," she said. "You _have_ been training."

Link nodded, a satisfied smile on his face. He relaxed his grip on the sword so that it spun around, tip facing the ground, and offered it to her. "Would that make me the first person to best you?" he said.

A couple of surprised cheers sounded from the men watching, which Link and Ashei both ignored.

"Nah," said Ashei, taking the sword and running it across the blade of the other sword she held. "Like I'm sure I've said before, my father was truly brilliant."

"Oh." Link shrugged. "Well, I should probably go soon. Fyer said it would all be ready tomorrow morning." He winced a second later.

Ashei looked vaguely confused. "Uh-huh. Huh… that's quite a trip. Shad always said your horse must be real fast."

"That's a stupid question," said Link quickly, as if he'd rehearsed that line.

"Well, whatever you're doing in the lake area…" Ashei trailed off. "I dunno, good luck with it, yeah?"

Link nodded, opened his mouth as if to speak, and shook his head. A second later, he was off, striding up the steps and out of view.

She turned around, and the other men were still talking loudly, looking both impressed and heartened by her newfound fallibility.

Ashei coughed loudly. "Well, who wants to…" She faltered. "Actually, screw it; I'm thirsty." And she dropped the swords and walked to the door of the bar, smiling all the way.

* * *

A/N: Anyway… yeah, this was a _slow_ chapter to write, for the most part. I think my imagination is just starting to run dry with this story. Fortunately, that's good timing – I only plan to write two more chapters… maybe not even that many.

I'd really appreciate reviews, though I completely understand that you're not obliged to give any… out of the kindness of your heart(s), perhaps?


	7. An evening spent making history

Sorry I haven't updated! I just kept on putting off finishing this chapter. I've rewritten almost every part of it at least once and I still don't think I'm as happy with it as I was with the other chapters, but I'll leave that for you all to decide, I guess. (I mean, I couldn't just skip over this part of the game without anyone else noticing, could I?)

A word of warning – this is going to be pretty long.

* * *

Chapter Seven  
An evening spent making history

_Two weeks later_

It was late in the afternoon on a quiet day, nothing unusual to speak of. Outside, in the streets of Castle Town, the people of Hyrule mingled and talked and yelled and bought and sold and hawked their wares and carried their loads, and despite the sad state of the world outside the town walls, life went on unsubdued. Inside, Telma's bar was all but empty – off in one corner, an unhappy-looking merchant sat, depressed; at the back of the bar, four of Telma's most regular patrons were talking with her.

She was leaning with one short arm on the table. Auru seemed bemused by what she was saying, Ashei and Rusl both appeared quite sceptical, and Shad was just staring wide-eyed, drinking in every word.

"The worst," she said, "is well and truly over." Incredulous groans across the table. "No, wait – hear me out. A couple of months ago, Hyrule Castle was burning and monsters were roaming the fields, and yes, life was definitely worse. But now…? The outer provinces are peaceful once again, and Castle Town – what I mean to say is, people are able to live their lives again."

"Wrong, Telma. Hyrule is still in chaos," said Rusl, waving a hand dismissively. "The outlying villages are still threatened by pillagers and thieves just waiting to seize an opportunity. And you must have seen for yourself what the fields are like; everyone has."

"But nobody's _dying_," said Telma. "Why should we Hylians squander what little strength we have left, in a brash, short-sighted blaze of glory? Eventually we'll be able to drive this… this evil from our land, but right now we – and not just us five at this table, but all the soldiers and ordinary people of Hyrule – we have lives to live, and that's not to be wasted."

"Well said," exclaimed Shad suddenly. Telma smiled weakly. Half a second later, Ashei shot an unpleasant look at Shad, and he added, "Not that I agree with you Telma, but, uh, I have to say…" His voice trailed off and he shrank back into his seat.

"This isn't living," said Ashei. "People are miserable out there. Sure, 'life goes on', blah blah… but the sooner this whole thing blows over, the better."

"That's just what I'm saying, honey," said Telma. "This won't just 'blow over'. Whatever evil presence it is that's befouling these lands isn't about to move on."

"Yeah, well that's what the resistance is for, isn't it?" snapped Ashei. "We can fix the problem and move on. End of story."

"I'm inclined to agree on Telma here," said Auru. "We should bide our time, at least until we know what we're doing. We still haven't the slightest idea who or what we're up against."

"Ashei and I weren't saying we should rush into this headfirst," said Rusl, leaning forward, "but…"

"Yes, we were," said Ashei. "What's the worst that happens? We die? Better than living in this shell of a kingdom… right, Shad?"

"What?" said Shad, jumping slightly. "Well, yes, yes I suppose so…"

Rusl seemed affronted. "Ashei, if you're really so sure about this, why haven't you tried to storm the castle gates already? I've seen the Zora soldiers camped just south of town…"

"I'm waiting for the right moment," said Ashei simply.

It was as if they'd suddenly run out of things to say. Auru sighed and traced his finger along the map on the table. Telma stood and headed back to the counter, muttering something about glasses needing cleaning. Shad closed his eyes and started to mutter to himself, twisting his hands nervously. As he did that, Rusl reached across the table and began to flick through a book that Shad had carried here with him. Ashei was staring intently at the edge of the table as she gradually chipped away at it with a steak knife.

After a few minutes, Shad inhaled loudly, causing Rusl to glance up.

"Um… excuse me, Ashei," Shad said quietly.

Ashei continued to work away at the table edge, not having heard him. Auru, on the other hand, had heard him from across the table.

"Ashei?" said Shad, ever-so-slightly louder this time.

Ashei looked up. "Yes?" she said blankly.

Shad closed his eyes and took another deep breath. "Well…" he said, opening them, "I just… um… just thought that… I mean, you're a very… Ashei, could I talk to you, er, _privately_?" (At that last word, Auru barely managed to suppress a laugh.)

"Yeah, of course," said Ashei, a confused expression on her face. She stood from her chair, slipping the knife into her belt. Shakily, Shad got up with her.

Ashei motioned towards the opposite end of the bar, near the door, and they walked away from the table.

A few seconds later, Rusl said quietly, "Poor kid."

Auru smiled. "That reminds me… how's your wife doing?"

Rusl shrugged. "I haven't heard from her since last week. Still expecting."

"And Colin?"

"He's great," said Rusl. "He still sounds shaken up after the kidnapping, _both_ the kidnappings, but otherwise he's fine. As a matter of fact, last time I went down to Kakariko he was asking me all about swordplay. Maybe all of the excitement has rubbed off on him."

"You ought to teach him all you can, then," said Auru. "If the way Link turned out is any indication, well, any son of yours would be just as magnificent a swordsman."

Across the room, when they reached the front entrance where they were about as distanced from everyone else as possible, Ashei leaned her back against the door of the bar and said, "What's up?"

Speaking very slowly, and staring at his feet, Shad said, "Well, um, someone told me to tell you… sorry, that's not what I meant... no, I mean, it's hardly _my _fault…"

An awkward silence held for a couple of seconds, as Shad struggled with his words, and Ashei looked at him curiously.

Shad gulped and tried again. "Sorry about that. I didn't mean to stumble around with my words like that; it's very embarrassing, of course, so sorry, I'll try to get straight to the point. You know what I'm like; I never get to the point quickly, always going off on tangents and–" He caught himself. "I… wait, do you hear something outside?"

"No," said Ashei, an eyebrow cocked. "Do you?"

"Yes," said Shad quickly. "Maybe… maybe you should go and look."

"I don't hear anything," said Ashei without moving.

The sound of yells and screams pierced through the door.

"Did you hear that?" said Telma loudly from across the bar. Rusl and Auru looked up from where they were sitting.

"Thank the Goddesses," Shad muttered.

"What?" said Ashei.

Shad said, "Oh, nothing. That's what I wanted to tell you. I thought I'd heard something."

More loud noises filtered through the door. "Huh. I guess your hearing is better than mine," said Ashei, looking extremely doubtful that such a thing was possible. Raising her voice: "Hey! Rusl, Auru, Telma! There's something going on outside!"

Rusl sprang from his seat and started walking to them, closely followed by Auru.

Ashei swung open the door and walked through it. "Seriously, what gives?" she asked, glancing back.

Shad shrugged and followed her out.

* * *

The five of them raced up the steps leading to the main thoroughfare. At the top, though, it was suddenly too crowded to move anywhere – the streets were packed with people pointing and staring. From the southern thoroughfare, there was a very clear view of the castle, and something ridiculous and unbelievable was happening there.

A gargantuan, impossible creature loomed over the battlements; a large, rippling monstrosity covered in menacing, stone armour. It was impossible to describe, yet despite its size, its grotesque, hunched stature and the markings adorning its body were oddly reminiscent of the unfamiliar creatures who had been terrorising the people of Hyrule only months before.

Stranger yet was what the shadow beast was doing. Moving just outside of the castle walls, it made no move towards the royal halls, but neither did it turn towards the town. The beast seemed to be doing… nothing. It barely made a sound.

"That's… that doesn't look like… I've never heard of anything like that before…" babbled Shad, looking more fascinated than frightened. "I do wonder what it's doing?"

"Get closer," said Rusl, nearly shouting be heard over the confused conversations of the people filling the street.

With Rusl and Ashei at the vanguard and the others tightly pressed against them, they started to work their way up the thoroughfare. The crowd was slowly moving the other way; evidently nobody wanted to get too close to whatever it was that was going on.

"Very strange," said Auru, who kept his eyes fixed firmly upon the giant shadow beast as they moved. "The magic it's using isn't like anything I've seen before."

"Really?" said Ashei disinterestedly.

Without warning, there was a blinding flash of light from the castle, followed swiftly by the sound of glass shattering. A split-second later, the monster was gone, and everything was normal again.

"No!" cried Shad melodramatically. He received a couple of strange looks from people nearby, so he clarified: "I wanted to see it up close. Who knows? It could be an entirely new species, and we could have been the first people to see it!"

The others ignored him, but they all slowed their pace now that there was no reason to hurry any more. Around them, as if under a spell, most of the people standing in the streets seemed to lose interest and return to their affairs.

"Getting used to this…" said a nearby woman loudly. Auru chuckled.

"What in the world _was_ that?" said Ashei, as if the question needed to be asked.

"This is just too strange," said Telma. "After those shadow creatures, I thought I'd seen it all, but this just…"

She trailed off, as they reached the opposite end of the central plaza and came to the northern main road, where a pair of wooden doors stood, unlocked and unguarded.

"The guards ran off," said Ashei matter-of-factly.

They came to the gates and stopped.

"Judging by how it never reached the castle, I think it'd be safe to say that monster was right in front of the main gates the whole time," said Rusl. He didn't add that that would place the monster right behind the set of doors they were standing by.

"We should go through, then," said Auru. "Shouldn't we?"

"Yes," said Rusl.

"Yeah," said Ashei, "whatever. It's probably gone already, but even not, I bet we could kill it pretty easily."

"We?" said Shad, taking a slight step away from the door. "As in 'you'?"

Ashei shrugged.

The five of them stood there, staring at the doors, which swung a fraction open.

Then a thunderclap sounded and rain began to pour from the heavens.

"Sorry, friends, but nowadays I really can't afford to leave my bar unattended," said Telma, turning around and half-running back down the road.

At the same time, Ashei groaned. "This is ridiculous. You're all such cowards."

She slipped through the doors without another word.

Shad stared after her. "She's pretty… brave, isn't she?" he said quietly, the sudden downpour of rain drowning out his words.

"We can't just let her run off alone," said Rusl loudly. "Wait here, I'll go catch her." He glanced at the other two, and when nobody objected, he took one step towards the door.

At that moment, a truly horrible sound erupted from the castle. It was a low moan, a deep, rumbling note sounding of fury and rage. Where the strange monster of minutes ago had been enigmatic and passive, this noise drowned everything out. The ground shook, their bones rattled, and from every corner of Castle Town pets started howling furiously. The sound of cracking glass trailed not far behind them.

It lasted five painful, agonising seconds, and then silence hit.

Auru removed his hands from his ears, looking around slowly. Rusl was unconsciously reaching for his sword that wasn't there. The distant yells of frightened townspeople echoed down the empty road.

"What on earth was _that_?" said Shad, backing away from the door. He stumbled on the wet paving and nearly lost his balance.

"I have no idea," said Rusl, "but it sounded… angry. Like a bull threatened by a…"

"Rusl, Shad," said Auru. "Look up."

Birds, countless in number, were flying in from every direction towards the thunderstorm above the castle, turning the sky black as their shadows covered everything. As they neared the castle, they shrieked, shifted course and barrelled down straight towards some unseen target.

"Whatever it is at the top of that castle, that noise wasn't anger," said Auru, observing the birds grimly. "It was a cry for help."

"Help from _what_?" said Rusl, staring at the swarming birds.

Ashei burst through the wooden doors, skidding to a neat halt on the treacherously wet ground. She was holding her sword, tinged with red. "Link," she said. "I saw him go into the castle grounds."

"You didn't follow him?" said Shad dumbly.

"You stick your head inside those gates and see if you want to go in, yeah?" snapped Ashei. "I got about two steps into the courtyard and then… there were Lizalfos, Moblins, all armed to the teeth. I swear there are hundreds. It's like they've been _breeding_ inside there, yeah?"

"What about Link?" said Rusl instantly.

"Sorry, Rusl," said Ashei, lowering her head. "He was alive the last time I saw him, but with the number of beasts in there he'd be blessed to survive half a minute."

Shad looked up at the sky again; drakes and crows and everything in-between were still flying in from every corner of the kingdom.

"He's done for," he said.

Auru coughed. Rusl shot him a murderous glance.

"Uh, you shouldn't give up on him yet," said Shad quickly. "Let's not worry about him right now."

"Look," said Ashei, "if there was ever a time to win the castle back for Hyrule, this is it. I'm going to grab some help. You all ought to do the same. I'll meet you at the eastern thoroughfare in… oh, maybe twenty minutes." She sheathed her sword and jogged away.

"Twenty minutes? Where are you going?" called Rusl after her. "Link could be dead by then!"

"Hey, if _you_ want to run in there alone, help yourself!" hollered Ashei, and she rounded a corner and was gone.

"Such courage," said Shad admiringly, staring after her.

"Hmm," said Auru gravely. "We may have a problem, my friends."

"How so?" said Shad absent-mindedly, still staring into space.

Auru frowned and pointed up. "You see that skyline? Every single beast in Hyrule is making a beeline for the castle."

Rusl shook his head. "No, only the birds are… oh. You mean there might be more Lizalfos and the like on the way."

"Undoubtedly," said Auru.

They started walking quickly back towards the central square.

"But they can't be," said Shad. "The only way into the castle is through this town. Lizalfos and Moblins can't just fly in like birds can."

Neither Auru or Rusl said anything; they only picked up the pace.

"Oh," said Shad, blinking. "I see. The only way into the castle is…"

* * *

"People of Hyrule!" shouted Rusl, cupping his hands as he marched through the alleyways of Castle Town. "Take arms! Your town is in danger! By Din, _Hyrule_ is in danger! Take arms and take to the streets!"

Plenty of heads sticking out of windows and street vendors giving him quizzed looks; but not so much enthusiasm. "What's going on?" one such man called. "What was that creature over the castle?"

"They're coming!" Rusl called back. "Remember that Lizalfos attack a few months back? Well, more are coming. Maybe dozens, maybe hundreds." Whatever potion Auru had given him before dashing off had worked; he was projecting his voice effortlessly and despite all the shouting his throat didn't feel the slightest bit sore. "But we _will_ stop them! Grab whatever weapons you have and bring the fight to them!"

A murmur of worry rippled down the street.

Rusl came to a halt and wheeled around. "Listen to me. If we don't stop it now, it's never going to end. These attacks, this chaos, none of it is going to stop by itself. But if we fight back, we can end it _now_. All the attacks. All the madness."

Heads started disappearing from windows, for better or worse.

"Why fight?" an older man called from overhead. "Those things would just kill us all!"

He couldn't believe this; were all townsfolk this obstinate? "And would you be any safer cowering indoors?" he shouted back. "You outnumber them! If one in every four men was out here on the streets the Lizalfos would never make it past the town gates!"

As if on cue, a door opened in front of him and a single figure walked out, a black-bearded man clutching a butchers' knife. Nobody else followed, and Rusl felt a pang of disappointment. Still, one was better than none. Rusl nodded to him in silent gratitude before returning his attention to everyone else.

"Join us!" he implored, raising his arms as though it would make a difference. "For the love of the Goddesses, join us and defend this town!"

"Who are you to order us around?" jeered a young woman's voice.

"Me?" said Rusl. It was a good question. He hardly had the authority that the town guard did… where _those_ soldiers were was a mystery in itself.

One young vendor, a lean fruit seller who looked utterly useless in battle, walked out from his stall and faced Rusl squarely. "I'll help. Whatever I can do," he said.

"Thank you," said Rusl earnestly. He looked up and shouted again. "Who am I? I'm a blacksmith. I have a wife and a son and everything to lose. Who are _you_?"

Finally, thankfully, doors started opening, emboldened faces emerging from them, armed with swords and knives and pitchforks and clubs. They trickled into the street, standing in unorderly groups, looking at each other and at Rusl expectantly as if someone was supposed to shout 'Charge!'. He turned around, surveying faces both male and female, young and old, wary and gung-ho, excited and fearful. A few dozen at least.

"Well, where are they?" yelled someone, and Rusl smiled despite himself. All said, things could have been worse.

* * *

Telma was alone in the bar, leaning on the countertop and petting Louise, when the door swung open and Shad walked in, looking very flustered.

"Back so soon?" she said, glancing up.

"The sky is falling," said Shad, leaning heavily against the wall. "The castle is filled with all sorts of nasties, monsters are flying and running in from every direction, and I just stuck my head out of the southern gate and there are Lizalfos and Moblins coming from every corner of Hyrule Field."

"Hmm," she said, because the young man looked as if the last thing he needed at the moment was more negative thoughts.

"And _we_ are going into the castle," said Shad. "The _castle_. Where all of these things are going. Without a plan. And who knows what else is in there!"

"You'll be fine, kid," said Telma. On the counter, Louise yowled loudly, trying to reclaim her attention.

"Look, Telma," said Shad. "You're a good friend. Really you are. If I die in there, and nobody else, could you please pass on a message for me?"

"Honey," said Telma to him with practised certainty, "you're not going to die today, okay?"

"But _if_–"

"Repeat after me," said Telma. "'I am not going to die'."

"I am not going to die," said Shad uncertainly.

"Again," said Telma.

"I am not going to die," said Shad, not looking any more convinced than the last time.

"That's right," said Telma with an encouraging smile. "Now, be a dear and fetch Doctor Borville for me, will you? We'll be needing him soon enough."

"…okay," said Shad, taken aback by the sudden request. "Er, okay. I'll go do that now."

He slipped outside, not closing the door behind him.

Telma smiled and returned her attention to her cat. Louise mewed contentedly, stretching out down the counter-top.

Only a few seconds later, hurried footsteps sounded again. Shad stuck his head through the door and said:

"But, Telma, if I _do_ die…"

"Shad, tell her yourself," said Telma, not looking up.

"Um, okay." Shad withdrew quietly.

He was already halfway down the thoroughfare before he wondered how Telma had known what he was going to say.

* * *

As expected, a horde of Moblins and Lizalfos arrived from all directions at the gates of Castle Town and began to beat their way in. As hoped, what was left of the town guard, flanked by a handful of wandering swordsmen and a formidable mob of defiant townspeople were waiting for them as the great doors burst open on all sides of town. The monsters were taken by surprise, squeezing in through the bottleneck to find themselves blocked by a human wall the likes of which neither they nor their sinister unknown leader could have anticipated.

It was messy: the first few dozen dashed in blindly, swinging wildly only to be cut down by guards and citizens alike, skidding to a dead halt on the ground and forcing the townspeople back with their sheer lifeless bulk. Only after a few minutes did the creatures at the back think to enter more cautiously.

Auru emerged onto the southern thoroughfare to find the madness in full swing. Grown men and women yelled and waved as the lizards and moblins crashed into the thin wall of soldiers. Behind them a thick gathering of townspeople were holding the line intact, brandishing all manner of heavy implements to slow the monsters down as they tried to push their thick-skinned way into the town centre. Further back others less reckless were clambering onto crates, throwing stones and metal tools at the arriving monsters – perhaps ineffective against their tough bones and rough armour, but certainly another painful distraction to the beasts.

And still the creatures came; it was hard to believe that there could have been so many of the scavengers in the whole of Hyrule, but here they were, every last one of them. A single Lizalfos clambered over its slain comrades and leapt clear over the front line, only to lose itself in the mob which swarmed up around it.

It was oddly surreal, walking down the empty road with the clamour of battle resounding behind him, the rain still pouring down on all sides.. Auru made his way to the east side of town, hefting a long cylindrical contraption with him. It was a 'bomb flinger', an exotic steel weapon he'd brought home from foreign lands many years ago. Much like bomb arrows, the bomb-flinger was made for shooting explosives over long distances. He'd fetched it from his house, thinking that if Ashei hadn't been exaggerating the numbers they might face inside, a couple of bombs would do them no harm.

Auru found Rusl at the east gate. He was stumbling out of the fray, dragging a wounded man out with him with one arm and clutching his own reddened sword with his other.

"Someone get this man some help!" Rusl shouted, and a few weaponless bystanders rushed to the other man's aid.

"Is he okay?" one of them asked.

"He'll be fine," said Rusl, "just get him to Telma's bar on the south side. Doctor's there."

As they moved off, Rusl glanced over his shoulder and noticed Auru. "Ah, Auru! What's that you're carrying?"

"Long story," said Auru, casting a wary glance towards the gate where the front line moved back and forth hypnotically. "Where are Shad and Ashei?"

"I'm here," said Shad, who was leaning against a stone column, trying to look calm.

"Sorry, duty calls," said Rusl with a wink, gripping his sword and pushing back into the fray.

Auru watched him go, then looked at Shad. "What are you doing now?"

Shad's eyes kept darting toward the battle not a hundred feet away. "I'm just... guarding the rope."

'The rope' was a knotted length of rope which was slung from a rooftop some three storeys above.

"Ah..." said Auru. "Is this the secret way into the castle courtyard you were talking about?"

"Well, yes," said Shad, blushing slightly. "It starts in the town square but she put the rope there so we could get up more quickly."

"Who, Ashei?" said Auru.

"Yes," said Shad. After a second he added, "Say, where has she gotten to, anyway?"

The front line of Lizalfos and Moblins began to pull back towards the town gates, bloodlust giving way to self-preservation. As they started to move back, though, their comrades behind them began to push forward, screeching with fury and panic. The result – monsters stumbling into each other left and right; a few tripping over to be trampled underfoot; a few unlucky ones piercing themselves on friendly weapons.

"They're falling back!" one of the Hylians cried, and the townspeople pushed further into the bewildered bunch of beasts.

A few seconds later, the source of their confusion became obvious. From outside the city walls, a group of soldiers was pressing back against the monsters. Armed with sharpened cartilage and fishbone spears, they had taken the monsters by surprise, cutting through dozens of well-armed Lizalfos with ease. Trapped between the determined Hylians and the Zora soldiers, the beasts were made short work of, and within half a minute the townspeople were already cheering victory and racing off to other sides of town where fighting continued.

Stepping around the bodies of the dead (not one Hylian among them), the Zora soldiers, about two dozen in all, moved up towards where Auru and Shad stood. They moved fluidly, not keeping in any particular formation and yet still somehow conveying discipline and organisation as they weaved their way through the crowd. The tallest of them came to a halt, eyeing Auru and Shad critically.

"Are you with Ashei?" he asked.

"Yeah, yeah, that's them, all right!" yelled Ashei, jogging with Rusl towards them. There was a bow and a quiver of arrows slung to her back. "Sorry about that, my sword got stuck..." In one hand she held the sword in question, shoving it back into its scabbard; in the other, blade-down, was the same steak knife she'd been playing with back in the bar.

"Ashei," said the Zora leader warmly.

"Big fish," said Ashei with equal warmth. She turned, sweeping her free hand around. "Rusl, Auru, Shad – this is... Makurel, commander of the Zoras' armed forces. Makurel, these are my friends, Ru... oh, Goddesses' sake, what _now_?"

Not for the first time that day, panicked yells and screams were carrying from the centre of town. They all turned towards the central square to find a gigantic Moblin-like creature riding a boar down the eastern thoroughfare, blowing loudly through a horn as it trampled its way through scattering pedestrians. The cobblestones cracked underfoot as the boar rushed towards them. The Zoras and Hylians still standing in the street parted as the huge boar-and-rider rushed past them, bursting straight through the town gates and disappearing into the distance.

"Is that the same bandit king who'd closed down the bridges?" wondered Auru aloud.

"Why is he _leaving_?" said Rusl.

"How did he get in in the first place?" said Shad.

Everyone on the road was staring incredulously at the spot where the boar-rider had crashed through the giant doors.

Ashei coughed and nodded at the rope ladder. "Well? It's nearly sunset, yeah? I'd like to storm the castle _sometime_ today..."

"You still want to do that?" said the Zora leader. "Considering the unexpected hordes of monsters outside your city walls, I think my men might be better used defending the town than running blindly into..." - he gestured in the direction of the castle - "unknown territory."

Rusl and Auru exchanged a pained glance and discreetly moved away.

Ashei spun around to face Makurel, lowering her voice. "You can't be serious. You'd _better _not be serious." When two seconds passed and he still hadn't said anything reassuring, she swore loudly, spinning the knife in her hand threateningly. "Don't back out on me now! I asked your _crown prince_ to send you down here to raid the castle and fix the mess that Hyrule is in! Who _cares_ about babysitting a few hundred _town-dwellers_? You have no idea what kind of opportunity we have here, fish-face. We can go for the kill right now, yeah? All these weird problems around the countryside? And in Zora's Domain, too? They could end _right now_. All I'm asking is that you show a little bit of intelligence, stop acting like such total cowards and..."

"Ashei," said Shad, "maybe you should calm..."

"Shut up, Shad," said Ashei, with as much self-control as she could manage, still staring down the Zora leader. "So? What's it to be, huh?"

"I'm sorry, Ashei," Makurel replied without missing a beat. "Holding the city walls is far more important."

"Din's sake," muttered Ashei.

"But – please – don't let us stop you. Go in there if you want. If the Moblins start fleeing from your... intimidating presence, I promise you I'll cut the little seaworms down myself."

"Oh, great, that makes me feel _much _better," said Ashei, turning around and heading for the rope ladder where the others were waiting. "Remind me to send you a thank-you card!"

"Let's go," said Rusl, gripping the rope.

* * *

Inside the castle grounds it was chaos. Smoke rose into the air from the charred remains of shrubbery and wooden guard posts. Monsters scurried back and forth disorderly, shouting frantic commands in strange tongues as they struggled to put out the blazes and dragged large chunks of wood across the courtyard.

"What on earth are they doing?" wondered Rusl, as the last of them dropped down from the top of the wall (Shad, landing on a heap in the ground and immediately complaining about the state of his left ankle).

"A good question," said Auru, taking the long metal tube from his back and fiddling with some gears at the back of it. "I must congratulate you, Shad, on finding this alternate entrance. It would seem that nobody has noticed our arrival."

Right on cue, the Moblin nearest to them shouted something and started pointing madly at them. Within seconds the entire sector of the courtyard was alerted to their presence – about eight Moblins and half that many Lizalfos. They all started yelling enthusiastically at the sight of an enemy who wasn't wearing green, and ran straight for them.

"Wonderful," said Ashei not-entirely-sarcastically, drawing her sword. Beside her, Rusl did the same. "Auru, Shad, if neither of you are able to help I suggest you stick close to the wall..."

"Just a minute," said Auru with a smile, and with a bang the bomb-flinger went off, sending an explosive ball hurtling towards the nearest pack of approaching Moblins. It landed between them and sent all five of them flying, streaking lines of flame through the air.

"That is... pretty neat," said Shad in what he thought was an appreciative voice.

"A toy from my younger days," smiled Auru, fishing around for a bomb bag. "It will take a moment to reload, though..."

"Shad, stay back," said Rusl, his sword in hand (although he'd drawn it so quietly it was almost unnoticeable).

About two seconds later half a dozen monsters reached them all at once. Rusl and Ashei moved together and, swords flashing, cut down two club-wielding Moblins instantly. The rest of the monsters, Lizalfos armed with swords, had the intelligence to raise their guards and so began a short but vicious fight.

Viewing from afar, Auru (though not a swordsman by any means) could clearly see how differently everyone fought. For the first few seconds the Lizalfos took the initiative, hacking and slashing randomly as if hoping to get a lucky strike in. Though vicious and unpredictable, their sword-work suggested little strategy or forward planning, and after those few seconds the two Hylians had both gauged their opponents and found nothing overly threatening. So they moved in.

Rusl's swordsmanship was honed and careful – he gripped his sword firmly with both hands, planting his feet on the ground with perfect posture. He was a conservative one, rarely attacking but instead parrying only as much as necessary, tempting the Lizalfos into making strikes that were longer, stronger... and the moment they overextended themselves Rusl was upon them, batting their swords out of the way effortlessly and tearing patterns through their armour before they could blink.

Ashei, on the other hand, was a lot more aggressive in her approach. She moved with a seeming disregard to personal safety; dancing around her opponents, ducking under their blows. Her attacks were fast and threatening, clanging into their hastily-raised guards and forcing them to keep blocking as she leapt from side to side, switching hands and grips as fast as the rain poured down. She put the monsters on the defensive until they didn't dare attack, and then shoved her sword straight through their guards.

It took about thirty seconds. Afterwards Ashei and Rusl sheathed their swords silently and looked around at the other two.

"Very nice work," said Auru appreciatively.

Rusl nodded, taking the compliment in stride. "I am a bladesmith. It's my job to know swords." He sighed. "Let's go."

"Help me with this, would you?" said Auru, indicating the bomb-flinger. "The catch here is jammed."

Shad was displaying some concern for Ashei. "Are you okay, Ashei?" he asked her. "The last time I saw you in a real fight you were pretty shaken."

"Shad," said Ashei, rolling her eyes, "I was a little drunk, a little tired, and..."

"But you're _sure_ you don't want to sit down or something?" said Shad.

"Shad!" said Ashei, staring right through him.

"Well, I'm sorr..."

Ashei grabbed Shad by the head and shoved him to the ground face-first, and he rolled over to find a frightening face staring down at him. A Moblin had managed to sneak up behind him, and if Ashei had waited another half-second its club would have smashed straight through his head.

"Ah!" Shad yelped. The Moblin raised its club over its head to impale him with. Ashei got its attention by slamming into it with her own body, picking the Moblin up and slamming it back onto the hard ground headfirst.

The Moblin dropped the club.

"Shad," said Ashei, looking genuinely anxious, "are you all right?"

"I think you just saved my life," said Shad blankly, feeling slightly giddy from all the adrenaline.

"And that surprises you?" she replied, hauling him to his feet. "Look, next time I tell you to duck..."

"You didn't," said Shad, but nobody was listening.

* * *

They passed through the central courtyard, where the monsters were banging at the main castle door. There were makeshift battering rams, composed of bits of brickwork and broken wooden beams, but the door was solid and the monsters kept attacking it with such single-mindedness that they didn't notice the four Hylians walking past them.

"The door must be locked," said Auru, looking at them with interest. "I wonder how that happened."

"Maybe someone... locked it?" said Ashei snidely.

From another courtyard door a group of Lizalfos emerged carrying an even larger battering ram. Without even a sideways glance at the four, they charged at the door, knocking down a friendly Moblin who hadn't gotten out of the way fast enough, and hit it hard. The door shook and made a pained sound.

"Should we intervene, perhaps?" said Auru, bomb-flinger at the ready.

"Don't bother," said Rusl, putting his hand to his mouth and whistling shrilly.

Only seconds later, a falcon swooped over the castle walls and landed neatly on Rusl's shoulder, standing stiff and proud. Rusl pointed a finger at the group of monsters with the battering ram, and the bird took off, diving into the beasts and clawing at any exposed skin it could find. The battering ram fell to the ground as the Lizalfos struggled to deal with this new annoyance.

"That should keep them busy," said Ashei, sounding almost disappointed. "I didn't know you were a falconer, Rusl."

"It never came up," said Rusl. "Looks as if this is a dead end. Shall we go?"

* * *

The rain seemed endless; by the time they'd made it to the northern side of the courtyard it was half-flooded, covered in an ankle-deep layer of water. Not much further in, Shad made a shocked noise, and the others turned to look at him.

"Up there," he said, pointing ahead. "Is that...?"

It was. Sword in hand, marching confidently atop the battlements of the castle, was Rusl's protégé, Link. Somehow he had made it all the way up to the highest levels of the castle.

"Seems he's all right after all," said Rusl, pride and admiration mixed in his voice.

"Um... over there?" said Ashei.

From one of the towers around the castle, a considerable number of Lizalfos emerged, running straight towards Link, even as yellow glows signalled Moblin snipers with fire arrows high above. (To his credit, Link didn't seem fazed by the sudden threat. His eyes darted from sniper to swordsman, a calculating look upon his face, as if unimpressed by the mortal danger he was surely in.)

"Maybe we should help him," Shad said. By the time he'd finished that sentence, the other three had already done so: Rusl with his falcon, which sliced through the air as fast as an arrow; Ashei and Auru firing their arrows and bombs with perfect aim. Moblins and Lizalfos both tumbled to the ground from high up, their dying cries muted by the pounding rain.

The falcon came back to rest on Rusl's shoulder, the arrow it had caught in its talons dropping to earth harmlessly.

Up above, Link was looking around in confusion until he sighted them. Despite the heavy rain, the surprised smile on his face was still clear as day. Rusl felt a surge of pride in his heart. _That's my boy_, he thought, waving.

"Come on, let's move," said Auru, bringing him back to earth with a jolt. They moved on without a backward glance, continuing their search for any remaining monsters in the courtyard.

"You'd think he'd say thank you, yeah?" muttered Ashei, but she was smiling just like the rest of them.

"He looked like he didn't need our help," said Shad.

"Don't be ridiculous," said Rusl. "What kind of person could take on odds such as that?"

That was the last any of them saw of Link for quite some time.

* * *

And, having circled all the way around the courtyard without encountering more than a handful of unprepared monsters, they found themselves back at the main entrance to the south. (The weather was even worse, if that was possible. Thunder, lightning... the whole works.)

"Huh," said Ashei, jerking her head towards the castle doors. "Looks like someone finally got that battering ram going." It was true – the door was smashed wide open, and as they watched a lone Moblin scurried towards its inviting warm opening before Ashei nailed it with her bow.

"Yes," said Rusl. "They're probably still after Link."

"Maybe we should have hung around here instead, yeah?" said Ashei. "Stopped them from getting in."

"Hindsight will do us no good, Ashei," said Auru patiently.

"And besides," said Shad, "we might not have found Link in time."

For a while none of them spoke; they all just stood staring at the door to the castle.

"Well, do we go in?" said Rusl, looking at the others.

"I'm soaking wet," said Ashei. "I'd love to."

"Hear, hear," said Shad.

Auru shrugged. "Whatever the rest of you want."

"Then it's settled," said Rusl. "Let's see if we can lend Link a hand inside."

Of course the castle just _had_ to blow up at that moment.

It began with a deep rumbling (like, it seemed, everything else that day), but quickly turned more threatening as cracks started to etch themselves deep into the castle walls.

"That's... not good," said Shad, eyes widening as chunks of stone began to fall to the ground. Naturally, he was the first to turn and run. Ashei and Rusl were equal second, and Auru was the last, standing there for a few seconds awed by the thought of a force powerful enough to bring such a magnificent building down in mere seconds. He came to his senses soon enough, and he too was running for the castle gates with a speed that belied his age.

They all made it out of the castle grounds as the sparks really started to fly; entire towers falling to the ground like the pieces of a broken jar. None of them turned around, survival instinct pulling far more weight than curiosity.

They almost made it back into the town square before the shock wave hit them, knocking all of them to the ground, unconscious. Buildings shifted, the ground roared in agony, and Castle Town was hit with the worst thing that had happened to it in the last hundred years.

* * *

A/N: Thanks again to all of the readers for waiting so patiently for the update. And, of course, sorry for having to make you wait this long. No inspiration combined with lots of procrastination isn't the best combination. I was quite pleasantly surprised by the number of private messages and reviews I'd gotten long after I last updated in April – who'd have thought that people would still care after so long? I'm really flattered. Thanks again.

Of course, no chapter of a story of mine would be complete without me asking you for reviews, so: please drop a review by! Even if the last chapter was so awful that it alienated you. _Especially_ if!

(Oh, and almost certainly one chapter to go. Maybe you can convince me otherwise, but I just don't think I could sustain this story for another six/seven chapters. I like it as is.)


	8. A lifetime spent living the dream

Chapter Eight  
A lifetime spent living the dream

* * *

_One-and-a-half weeks later_

Telma's bar was even more crowded than usual. The mood on the streets of Castle Town was one of carefree, celebration. The raucous mob on the streets, partying and drinking and singing and dancing, had easily spread into the 'best bar in town'.

She wasn't complaining about the extra customers, no way; her only concern was that service was about to crawl to a standstill. "If this crowd keeps up, I might have to hire someone to help me around here," she grumbled pleasantly, as she arrived at a certain table, carrying what appeared to be an entire roast boar.

"You should've done it years ago," said Rusl, taking the opportunity to tilt his glass to her. "Never knew how you managed to run the whole place by yourself all these years."

Telma winked at him. "That's a secret I'll take to the grave, hon." She smiled apologetically, already pushing away from the table. "Duty calls." She bustled off to the next table, her considerable girth gliding between chairs and diners with total ease.

Rusl watched her go for a couple of seconds, then turned back to size up the boar. Auru was already slicing it up into bite-sized pieces, Ashei was ripping chunks out with her bare hands, and Shad was staring at a book, seemingly impervious to the smell of meat and garnish.

"So," said Rusl, loudly enough to make the others look up, "how are we all keeping?"

Believe it or not, it was the first time they had all gotten together since that eventful day more than a week ago. After all the fighting around the city walls and the utter destruction of the castle, there had been plenty to keep everyone busy.

"Since you asked..." began Auru, putting down his fork.

Auru, it seemed, had been helping tend to the many injured. While the snooty town doctor patched up the people with nothing but bruises and cuts (weaselling a few hundred Rupees out of them at the same time), Auru was tending to the rest, putting his experience and expertise to good use.

"In my younger days I got myself into a few close scrapes," he explained, "I became very familiar with the healing arts. Herbs, potions, spells... I daresay I tried them all on every bone in my body at least once."

"You must have had your work cut out for you," remarked Ashei, her mouth half-full.

"Oh, yes," said Auru. "I think five or six dozen people passed through my hands, plus a couple of Zoras. A few people were quite badly hurt when the castle went to pieces. One unlucky man was trampled over during the fighting. It was ghastly."

Rusl winced. "I'm sorry to hear that. Did he make it?"

Auru tilted his head. "He did. Others weren't as fortunate."

Rusl nodded, falling silent.

As they ate, snippets of conversations from nearby tables drifted in their direction. It seemed that everyone was talking about recent events.

"...know the Princess was still alive. Hear she's preparing the rebuild the castle real soon..."

"...my first time in town in _years_, you know? I finally feel safe travelling alone..."

"...swear it by Nayru. The legendary Hero was reincarnated and he led the charge that day..."

"...tell you I was fighting at the south gate? Killed three beasts with a single blow, I did..."

Ashei suppressed a laugh, looking over at the last speaker.

"Yes?" said Shad, glancing up.

"That guy," Ashei said, jerking a thumb over her shoulder, "couldn't hit a dead Moblin from two paces."

"Hmm," said Shad, nodding sagely. "That's rather... funny..."

Smiling, Auru looked around the table. "So, what have the rest of you been doing lately?"

Rusl shrugged. "Not much, personally. I've spent most of my time in the north half of town helping to clear up the rubble. You must have seen how the castle took out a good chunk of the central square with it, yes? Well, that's what I've been doing, mostly. Clearing up the roads, salvaging whatever can be salvaged from homes and shops."

"What are you doing with all that rubble?" said Shad.

Rusl laughed quietly. "Mostly dumping it just outside town. Some of the larger rocks may still be usable for reconstruction, so we left those the castle area. I actually heard some rumours that the Gorons plan on lending us a hand. Apparently one of them tried a bit of rubble and liked the taste."

"And I thought I'd heard it all," remarked Auru bemusedly. "I guess us humans will never truly understand the Gorons."

"Or vice versa," piped in Ashei. "The other day one of them was asking me what we used _shields _for."

"Rusl, what happens to the people who lost their homes?" said Auru.

"As far as I can tell they're bunking with their neighbours," replied Rusl. "But I believe it was mostly shops that went down. A few restaurants and quite a few speciality stores. I don't particularly mind having one less place to buy shoes from, but it makes me wonder how those owners are going to keep up a livelihood..."

"Hmm," said Auru. "That reminds me – you've probably heard, but most of the business in the centre of town seems to be heading to this one new store. I've been inside; it's a little... _colourful_ for my tastes, but I have to say, whoever owns it must be making a fortune."

"Yes," said Rusl. He frowned slightly, and turned to look in the other direction. "Wait a minute... Ashei... did you say something about Gorons? They haven't exactly had a presence in town lately. You just_happened_ to be chatting with them?"

"Yeah, 'course," said Ashei. "Spent the last week or so out in Hyrule Field. It's not like the kingdom is suddenly free of its bandit problem. I ran into a lot of other people helping drive the monsters and scum out of the fields. It's been pretty fun. The little runts are all panicked and disorganised after all that's happened; half the time they just squeal and run."

"But_Gorons_?" said Rusl. "They don't usually leave the mountain except for business."

Ashei shrugged. "Turns out the rock-eaters have a serious bone to pick with the Lizalfos. I can't say exactly what the problem is, but it sounds like the two species have been feuding for centuries. Not sure who started it, but apparently the lizards have been invading Goron mines and waylaying stragglers for as long as they can remember."

Shad looked perplexed. "I've never heard of anything between Gorons and-"

"Well, there you go," interrupted Ashei, shrugging again. "But yeah. There are a couple dozen Gorons roaming the plains at any given time, looking for monsters to smash up. It's pretty spectacular seeing them go at it. You could split mountains with punches that hard, yeah?"

"So you've been following them around, have you?" said Auru.

"'Course not," said Ashei, looking mildly offended. "I don't _follow_ people. I've just had a couple of run-ins with them in-between skirmishes. Most of the time I've been chasing Moblins away from the main roads, shouting 'boo' and gutting a few. It's great fun. I haven't really had a chance to... to _roam_, not since all the strange things started happening. You know what I mean? It's good to be able to take a walk in the countryside and not have to worry about anything but a few dimwit bandits who can't tell one end of a club from another."

"That sounds quite exciting," said Shad, staring at her whimsically.

Ashei grinned. "Hey, Shad, we haven't heard what _you've_ been up to yet, yeah?"

"Uh..." Shad blushed and looked down. "Nothing quite so glamorous."

"Well, do tell," said Ashei. After a moment's pause, she glanced at the other two for support.

"Yes," Rusl chimed in, "do tell."

Shad mumbled something incoherent.

"Come on, speak up!" barked Rusl. "It can't be that bad!"

"Okay, okay," winced Shad, looking up. "I _did_ warn you. All right, then... if you're sure you want to hear it... not sure why you would want to, but there you go... it's going to be pretty dull, you know, you might as well... if you... er..." He grimaced and shrugged helplessly, looking between them.

Ashei stared him down.

Shad gulped. "The ruins. Looking for... I mean, I've been poking about what's left of the castle. Trying to see what can be salvaged. There... I mean, well... it's a very old building, right? Very grand architecture, things you don't see nowadays. That's the sort of thing."

"I don't understand," said Auru. "What exactly have you been doing there?"

"Um... I guess you could say I'm looking for anything of historical importance in there," said Shad, slightly flustered. "Like, well... that hall with the statues of kings and queens, for example? There are still a few heads and arms left intact. And the royal archives! There was this massive library which the public wasn't allowed into, did you know? And a lot of it seems to have survived intact!" He was getting worked up now, grinning with excitement. "It's like a treasure trove of forbidden knowledge! I had to get someone else to unearth it for me, but... magic scrolls! Merchant treaties! They even have sheets of court music and tax records from the time of the legendary Hero!"

"...tax records," said Ashei blankly.

Shad deflated a couple of inches. "Well, uh, there's some historical value in seeing what happened when..."

Ashei cut in. "Hyrule Castle, destroyed. There's royal gold reserves and hundreds of weapons lying under the rubble, and you go and _loot_ the castle... for _tax records_?"

(Not very helpfully, Rusl and Auru were engaged in muffled laughter. Loud muffled laughter.)

"Shad," continued Ashei, staring at him in a mixture of amusement and wonder, "that is so... _you_."

His face flushed deep red, Shad laughed self-consciously. "Um... well... if you _want_ I suppose I could go and pilfer some gold..."

"Don't ever grow up," Rusl said, signalling Telma with one hand and clapping Shad on the back with the other.

Auru laughed heartily. "You people never cease to amaze me..."

* * *

"I think it's time for me to go back to Ordon," said Rusl, about an hour later.

The bar was a lot less crowded now; besides the four of them there might have been a dozen other people at most. Telma's cat, Louise, had arrived on their table and claimed a good quarter of it as her own, stretching out and napping with complete disregard to everyone else seated there. Rusl was gently petting her as he spoke.

The others all turned to look at Rusl as he said this. None of them looked surprised.

"Homesick?" said Ashei, a tired smile on her face.

Rusl laughed. "If you want to call it that. 'Wife and children' doesn't really mean anything to you kids, does it?"

"_Kids_?" said Shad, looking mildly annoyed but not enough to sit up straight.

"Children?" Auru said, honing in on Rusl's words. "Does that mean Uli already...?"

Rusl's face broke into a grin. "Yes! I wanted to surprise you all; I only found out a few days ago and I hadn't seen you since... but yes, yes! She gave birth! Uli and I are parents of two now!"

"Well, congratulations!" said Auru, walking over and pulling Rusl into a tight embrace. "That's wonderful news, Rusl! You must be so proud!"

"Yes, well..." said Rusl, returning the gesture warmly, "you see why I've got to return, then? I've barely seen Uli at all these last few months, and now... well, now that everything's over, now that all the children are safe..."

"Um, yeah... congrats, Rusl," said Ashei, smiling awkwardly. "I'd hug you, too, but... well, I'm comfortable here..." She grinned and reached across the table, patting his hand. "I hope you two do real... nah, I _know_ you two will do real well. Go raise a couple of warriors or something, yeah?"

Shad lifted his eyes up from Ashei's hand to look at Rusl. "Um, well, I wish you all luck, Rusl," he said solemnly. "It's been good knowing you..."

"What are you talking about?" said Rusl wryly. "I'm not running away from you lot or anything! I'm just not going to be in town _every _single night of the year any more all."

"Oh," said Shad, looking a bit startled. "Well, er, in that case, I, uh, look forward to... seeing you... around..."

Returning to his seat, Auru regarded Rusl carefully. "Send your family our regards," he said.

"Of course," said Rusl.

The table descended into silence, with everybody staring into the distance, thinking their own things.

* * *

As the night wore on, the number of other people in Telma's bar dwindled, until the four sitting at that table were the only customers left in the bar. At this point, Telma concluded the cleaning of the tables with a triumphant flourish, grabbed herself a chair, and planted herself firmly beside them.

"Still here?" she said with a smile. "I _do_ have to close up sometime, you know."

"Our deepest apologies, Telma," Auru quipped. "We promise it will never happen again."

"Well, yes," said Telma, leaning forward. "About that... I gather this may be the last little meeting here for a while, am I right? Now that the war is over and all..."

"What war?" said Shad.

"Figure of speech," said Telma. "Anyway, is this it for our little band? Our... peace-loving resistance?" She drew cynical little quotation marks in the air with those last words.

Auru nodded. "So it would seem. It looks as if the worst is over for Hyrule."

"Don't count on it," Telma replied. "This kingdom has a knack for getting itself into trouble, time and time again... isn't that right, Shad? You're the historian here..."

"Well, I suppose so," said Shad, staring into space. "If you believe all of the legends, this has to be, uh... maybe the fifth, sixth time that things got really ugly? I think...? But if you're going by that, we ought to have at _least_ a couple of lifetimes before anything nearly this nasty happens again..."

"But you see what I mean," said Telma with a shrug. "Maybe things are on the way up, but I don't think 'happily ever after' is written anywhere in Hyrule's destiny. But that's not actually what I meant. What I meant was, aren't you all running away now?"

Rusl nodded. "Yes, well, I'm going back to Ordon. I can't remember if I told you, Telma...?"

"No, but I can't say I'm surprised," said Telma. "Family first, right? Wish you well, hon'. And what about the rest of you?"

"_I'm_ not going anywhere, Telma," said Auru with a wink. "There's plenty in Lanayru province alone to keep me entertained for years to come. Besides, what _else _do you expect an old codger like me to do with his time?"

"I'm sure you'll think of something," the barkeeper smiled. "And what about you, Shad?"

"Er... I can't say I really have any plans," said Shad. "I suppose I'll keep on searching for the sky people. I feel like I'm getting really close to something..."

Ashei shook her head. "No offence, Shad, but that's what you were saying a year ago. I don't know how many times I've seen you here with your nose stuck in some ancient book, babbling on about 'important new evidence' or whatever. I mean... come on. For all we know, those statues you keep talking about are all there is, yeah? Maybe there's just nothing left of those people, maybe you've found all there is to find. I reckon it's high time you..."

"Come to think of it," Telma cut in loudly, "I just remembered something – it might be useful to you, Shad. Would you just give me a moment?"

"Uh..." said Shad, looking back and forth between the two women uncertainly.

Without waiting for a response Telma stood up and disappeared behind the counter.

"...you were... saying... Ashei?" said Shad.

"Oh, I don't know," groaned Ashei. "Just... maybe give it a rest for a while, yeah? Get out there and do something different." She gave him what was supposed to be a well-meaning smile.

"Even if I wanted to take a break from my historical studies, what do you mean by 'something different'?" said Shad. "You're not suggesting I do something... physically intensive, are you?"

Auru laughed. "Don't worry, Shad. We know you too well for that."

"Hmm..." said Rusl. "There must be something we can do to keep you out of doors. Maybe you could take up archery-"

"No," said Shad instantly, shrinking into his seat.

Rusl stared at him for a moment, mouth open, before snapping out of it. "Why exactly?"

"Um, it's _dangerous_, that's why," replied Shad. "I'm not running around with all those pointy things, no thank you."

Ashei grinned. "Coward. What about picking up another language? I've always wanted to go travelling far from Hyrule. You could tag along and translate for me. It'd be fun."

Shad perked up slightly. "That... well, yes, I suppose that's within my abilities."

Telma reappeared at the table so suddenly she knocked the drink out of Rusl's hand. Clutched in one hand was a thin leather folder. "Here we are. Renado finally wrote to me the other day. He also sent – oh, I should add, Rusl, the children from your village are heading back to Ordon soon, Renado suggested you escort them – but, anyway, Shad. He also sent these for you."

She tossed the folder onto the table where Shad opened it. Its contents were hard to make out in the dimness of the lanterns on the walls, but even so a lot of it was recognisable: a few tattered old books, the writing on their bindings partially faded, and a handful of foolscap sheets, covered with rough diagrams and scribbled notes.

"What is this...?" said Shad, peering closer.

"First off," said Telma, raising hands defensively, "I agree with the others. A change of pace might be good for you, Shad. But... Renado apparently heard how much this research meant to you. These books are from the library from Kakariko. Not many survived the fires and the pillaging, but he seems to think that these will be a big help to you."

"'Order of the Sheikah?'" read Shad questioningly. "'An Account... something, something... Construction of Kakariko?' These don't seem very... Sky-people-relevant."

"Not my problem," said Telma. "But it sounds like you could use any lead you get... oh, and you might want to have a look at the papers. Renado passed these on from Link, and... oh, just look for yourself."

Shad looked unconvinced but he started flipping through the pages slowly.

"Shad gets gifts and we don't?" said Ashei. "What gives?"

Telma laughed. "Renado's a great man. He works so hard to put everyone else ahead of himself... the man needs to give himself a break every now and then."

Auru nodded. "It would be hard, worrying about everyone around you and not just yourself, all the time. I can't imagine how he felt when Kakariko was attacked."

"He's not the only person who's been hard done by in recent times," said Ashei. "What about the Zoras? When the monsters started appearing they lost their queen and dozens more."

"The people of my village, too," nodded Rusl. "There's nothing more painful than losing a child, even if only temporarily."

"Every single man and woman scarred for life by a close scrape at the city border," said Telma. "There's always one here."

"Not to mention the families of the dead," nodded Rusl.

"And the dead," said Auru.

A sombre silence fell upon them. The only sound was Shad muttering under his breath as he read his way through Link's notes.

"I've heard the royal family is planning a memorial service to honour the dead," Auru said, covering the silence.

"Nice of them," shrugged Ashei.

"Come to think of it, are any of them still alive aside from the Princess?" said Telma. "I've heard all sorts of wild stories about regicide and distant heirs to the throne."

"It's probably just hearsay," said Auru.

"Hearsay is sometimes right," countered Rusl. "My guess is that the rest of the royal family _is_ dead. The castle was seized for so long; it's a wonder we have anything of the monarchy left."

Auru sighed. "That would be un-"

"Shad, you okay there?" said Ashei, a concerned note in her voice.

Everyone's heads turned: Shad looked up, looking between them numbly.

"Wha...?" he said. "I'm fine, I'm fine. I just... it's just this..." He waved the papers he had been reading.

"Like it?" said Telma with a knowing smile.

"This is... this is incredible!" exclaimed Shad. "It's all I need! He's drawn these..." - he waved the papers wildly in front of him, clipping Rusl on the cheek - "sorry, Rusl... these maps, right? The exact locations of other Sky relics! And look at this! Directions to the Faron temple! I mean, if this is real – and why wouldn't it be real, really? - then... nobody's seen it for hundreds of years! And then there's more; descriptions of Sky-people customs, even... he says here they have an entire _city_ up in the heavens, can you imagine that? And then there's this sketch of a sky being, and it matches _exactly_ with the descriptions I found in my research; that can't possibly be a coincidence, can it? Imagine that! All this time I was so close, and now I'm going to be able to – and then I think here he's written what the owl statues do, I can't quite make out what it says here but can you _imagine_ that? It's a-"

"Shad, I'm really happy for you, but please shut up," said Ashei, a stupid grin on her face. "My mind is too tired to take in what you're saying right now."

"Seconded," said Auru apologetically. "My ears are..."

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean that," said Shad quickly, still waving his arms as he had been for the past minute. "It's just – this is so exciting! My life's work and it wasn't a waste of time like those antique dealers kept saying, you know? It's the most amazing thing, I might actually be able to _talk_ to one of them, and that's just one thing. Did you know that the temple in Faron Woods is only a few hundred metres from the mapped trails? There's directions here; who knows, there might be a way to get in without lots of tree climbing. And then he has drawings of Sky people – real, live Sky people! It's incredible, it's like... things just couldn't possibly get better, right? He even wrote about a city in the sky, it's-"

"Shut up, Shad," said Ashei.

Shad shook his head. "This is a once in a lifetime moment. It's just incredible, you know; did you know they're supposed to be one of the oldest races in Hy-"

She grabbed him by the head (very violently, too: Shad's glasses ended up on the floor and they both had bruises on their foreheads the next day) and kissed him.

"Mmph," Shad said, completely forgetting what he had just been talking about.

There was a fair amount of awkward fumbling as Ashei managed to knock the papers out of Shad's hand, and then the two of them were very preoccupied.

Telma raised her eyebrows. "Glad to see _someone_ took the initiative..."

"I was starting to think I'd never live to see it," said Auru.

Rusl nodded. "I feel really old now."

"Join the club," said Auru, clapping him on the back.

"...not _that_ old," Rusl hastened to add.

"Keep it civil, boys," laughed Telma. "Next thing I know you'll be calling each other names..."

Ashei and Shad came up for breath.

"I just..." stuttered Shad. "You just... we just..."

"Yeah," said Ashei. "You like?"

"Ashei..." said Shad, "I think... I think I like... I mean... uh... could we do that again?"

"What, _this_?"

With some effort Telma tore her eyes away. "That's it. I'm kicking you all out in five minutes. I refuse to stand here watching those two all night." With a cheerful grin she started to gather the empty glasses on the table.

Rusl groaned. "What about me and Auru, Telma? This is the most entertainment we've had in months."

"You two should get out more," retorted Telma, deliberately turning her back as she moved away from the table. "Honestly..."

Rusl opened his mouth, couldn't think of a comeback, and shut it again. Instead he managed a half-hearted withering look at the back of Telma's head. She didn't notice, but her cat might have – Louise looked up for a split second before returning to her nap.

"We're going to have to do something about those two," Auru said with a chuckle, eyes still fixed on the other two.

Rusl smirked but said nothing.

"Ah... to be young again..." Auru yawned.

"Auru, if you say that one more time, I will kill you myself," said Rusl – and he might have meant it. "Shad! Ashei! Come on, we're moving out!"

"Quit your whining already, we're going," said Ashei, disentangling herself and springing to her feet. "You don't mind standing out in the cold, do you Shad?"

"Um... yes, sure..." said Shad. "But would it make any difference if I said no?"

"Probably not," said Ashei, sweeping Shad's things off the table so fast he barely caught them. "Come on, let's go!" She grabbed him by the hand and practically skipped away from the table.

"Bye, Auru, Rusl, Telma!" managed Shad as he was dragged to the door. "See you all around!... not so tight, please..."

"Good night," Telma said without looking up from the bar. She waited until they were out before saying, "I see what you mean, Auru. The good mood around town is infectious."

"I know a doctor who could fix that," smiled Auru, getting to his feet. He stared whimsically into the distance. "It's wonderful, all this goodwill and happiness and hope... hope especially. It's been a long time since Hyrule had so much hope in it. But I wonder how long it can last?"

Rusl thought of his children and smiled. "Let's hope it lasts a long, long time."

And you know what? It did.

**THE END**  
(January 2007 – March 2008)

* * *

A/N: There is something incredibly difficult about ending a story. After all the effort invested in writing it, after all the emotional attachment (mine and maybe yours too), it's daunting trying to write a last chapter/page/sentence that does the whole thing justice. But on the flip side, it's incredibly rewarding once you write those closing words and tell yourself, "that is the best I can possibly do". Maybe you disagree; maybe you found this something of a letdown after the first seven chapters. Oh, well... I thought it was okay, so at least someone somewhere is happy.

And now here we are. Thanks to everybody who read this, especially the people who reviewed ('cause at least I know who you are). Your compliments, comments and complaints were all invaluable and really motivated me to write. I may have ignored most of your suggestions (oops!) but I was touched that so many people cared enough about the story to give me that advice. I could probably go on forever, but I think you get the point: you people are amazing, and I don't care how clichéd I have to be to tell you that.

Okay, down to business: where are all of _your_ Resistance-related stories? Seriously! I know there are others out there, but there are so few... if 'Back of the Bar' is any indication there are plenty of people willing to read even the most disjointed, incoherent story as long as it has Auru in it! (Or that might have been Ashei. Can't remember.) I really would like to see this sort of story more often, even if it is just ShadxTelma fluff. Get out and write something!

As for me? I'm probably not going to write about these fine characters again for a while – I'm all Resistance'd out. I might come back to them one of these days, but until then I have several million other possible universes and ideas to consider. Should be fun, and I hope to see you around.

Until next time...


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